Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday ended the five-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 15 points or 1.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just shy of the 1,315-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian bourse is negative, with technology and oil shares likely to lead the markets lower. The European and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 18.02 points or 1.39 percent to finish at 1,313.31 after trading between 1,298.64 and 1,316.59. Volume was 6.861 billion shares worth 38.139 billion baht. There were 295 gainers and 169 decliners, with 191 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.32 percent, while Thailand Airport expanded 0.63 percent, Banpu and PTT both advanced 0.82 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.32 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slumped 1.06 percent, Bangkok Expressway rallied 2.78 percent, B. Grimm gained 0.64 percent, BTS Group dropped 1.42 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.42 percent, Energy Absolute increased 0.68 percent, Gulf and SCG Packaging both climbed 1.14 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.27 percent, Krung Thai Bank jumped 1.83 percent, Krung Thai Card spiked 2.70 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gathered 0.95 percent, PTT Global Chemical added 0.48 percent, Siam Commercial Bank strengthened 1.53 percent, Siam Concrete improved 1.31 percent, Thai Oil sank 0.70 percent, True Corporation soared 3.51 percent and TTB Bank, Asset World, PTT Oil & Retail and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened in the red on Thursday and spent the entire session under water, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow stumbled 398.70 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 46,912.30, while the NASDAQ plunged 445.80 points or 1.90 percent to close at 23,053.99 and the S&P 500 sank 75.97 points or 1.12 percent to end at 6,720.32.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street came on renewed weakness among artificial intelligence-related stocks, which led the sell-off on Tuesday. Concerns about an AI bubble and the possibility of a near-term correction have recently weighed on investors' minds.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showing a sharp increase in layoff announcements in the month of October.

Crude oil prices fell Thursday on oversupply concerns after the American Petroleum Institute revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories increased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.21 or 0.35 percent at $59.39 per barrel.