Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 25 points or 2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,290-point plateau although it's expected to open under water on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over bad loans in the auto industry. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly higher again on Thursday as gains from the industrial, service and technology sectors were offset by weakness from the food, consumer, property and resource stocks.

For the day, the index rose 4.77 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 1,291.46 after trading between 1,286.60 and 1,299.43. Volume was 6.727 billion shares worth 33.202 billion baht. There were 242 decliners and 195 gainers, with 208 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.34 percent, while Thailand Airport declined 1.23 percent, Asset World soared 3.81 percent, Banpu increased 0.93 percent, Bangkok Bank slumped 1.29 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical expanded 1.01 percent, Bangkok Expressway contracted 0.98 percent, B. Grimm lost 0.66 percent, BTS Group spiked 2.84 percent, CP All Public climbed 1.06 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods and True Corporation both dropped 0.90 percent, Energy Absolute skidded 1.17 percent, Gulf rallied 2.26 percent, Kasikornbank rose 0.29 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 1.00 percent, PTT Oil & Retail sank 0.73 percent, PTT tumbled 1.60 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.46 percent, PTT Global Chemical improved 0.81 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.58 percent, Siam Concrete advanced 0.99 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.54 percent and Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Card and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but dropped into the red midday and stayed there for the balance of the session.

The Dow stumbled 301.07 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 45,952.24, while the NASDAQ clumped 107.54 points or 0.47 percent to close at 22.562.54 and the S&P 500 sank 41.99 points or 0.63 percent to end at 6,629.07.

The weakness that materialized on Wall Street was attributed to the emergence of concerns about bad loans following the recent bankruptcies of two auto industry-related companies First Brands and Tricolor Holdings.

Earlier in the day, the tech sector rose on upbeat earnings news from Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), which produces chips for Nvidia (NVDA). TSM reported a bigger than expected surge in Q3 profits amid strong AI chip demand and raised its forecast for revenue growth.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noted a substantial pullback by its reading on regional manufacturing activity in the month of October.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday after the Energy Information said that crude oil inventories in the U.S. increased much more than expected, sparking demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude Oil for November delivery was down $0.97 or 1.66 percent at $57.30 per barrel.