Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday snapped the five-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 35 points or 2.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,280-point plateau although it may open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with technology shares expected to fall under pressure. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property and service sectors. For the day, the index added 5.21 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 1,278.41 after trading between 1,268.49 and 1,282.19. Volume was 8.198 billion shares worth 38.563 billion baht. There were 303 gainers and 170 decliners, with 177 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info collected 1.39 percent, while Thailand Airport climbed 1.92 percent, Asset World gained 0.86 percent, Banpu rose 0.44 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.34 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.49 percent, B. Grimm soared 3.05 percent, CP All Public surged 3.24 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.45 percent, Energy Absolute spiked 2.33 percent, Gulf shed 0.57 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 0.85 percent, PTT Oil & Retail was up 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.44 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 2.26 percent, Siam Concrete increased 1.36 percent, Thai Oil accelerated 2.17 percent, True Corporation jumped 1.90 percent, TTB Bank strengthened 1.61 percent and Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, PTT Global Chemical, PTT, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but gradually turned lower and finished solidly in the red.

The Dow shed 171.50 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 46,121.28, while the NASDAQ lost 75.62 points or 0.33 percent to close at 22,497.86 and the S&P 500 sank 18.95 points or 0.28 percent to end at 6,637.97.

The extended pullback on Wall Street may have reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the artificial intelligence trade following Tuesday's weakness.

AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) slid by 0.9 percent after tumbling by 2.8 percent on Tuesday, while fellow AI player Oracle (ORCL) slumped by 1.7 percent.

Concerns about valuations may also have continued to weigh on the markets after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggesting he believes stocks may be overvalued.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday due to the increasing likelihood of Russian oil exports facing heavy U.S. sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for November delivery was up $1.61 or 2.54 percent at $65.02 per barrel.