Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slipping almost 15 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,370-point plateau and it's expected to in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on persistent concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly lower on Thursday as losses from the finance, industrial, resource and services sectors were mitigate by support from the food and technology companies.

For the day, the index dipped 2.99 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 1,367.84 after trading between 1,364.31 and 1,374.04. Volume was 16.096 billion shares worth 46.273 billion baht. There were 285 decliners and 190 gainers, with 186 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.76 percent, Asset World tanked 2.06 percent, Banpu stumbled 1.75 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.36 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.90 percent, B. Grimm surrendered 1.96 percent, BTS Group plunged 2.46 percent, CP All Public dropped 0.84 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods soared 3.11 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 4.82 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 1.16 percent, Krung Thai Card weakened 1.14 percent, PTT sank 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.65 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 1.50 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete strengthened 1.22 percent, Thai Oil slumped 1.49 percent, True Corporation tumbled 1.78 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.69 percent and Kasikornbank, PTT Global Chemical, Gulf, PTT Oil & Retail and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but headed south as the day progressed to end firmly in the red.

The Dow plunged 605.78 points or 1.53 percent to finish at 39,065.26, while the NASDAQ sank 65.51 points or 0.39 percent to close at 16,736.03 and the S&P 500 lost 39.17 points or 0.74 percent to end at 5,267.84.

Initial strength on Wall Street came as tech stocks rallied following upbeat quarterly results from chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as concerns about the outlook for interest rates continue to hang over the broader markets following Wednesday's slightly hawkish Fed minutes.

Potentially adding to the rate concerns, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday for a fourth straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand, and on data showing an unexpected jump in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $76.87 a barrel.