Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai Stock market on Friday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 55 points or 3.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,520-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on surging oil prices, ambiguity about the conflict in the Middle East and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the food, consumer, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index stumbled 21.17 points or 1.38 percent to finish at 1,517.95 after trading between 1,512.91 and 1,536.79. Volume was 10.178 billion shares worth 67.869 billion baht. There were 263 decliners and 201 gainers, with 192 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.55 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.37 percent, Asset World contracted 1.83 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Thai Oil both slumped 1.08 percent, Bangkok Expressway plummeted 2.78 percent, B. Grimm tanked 2.22 percent, BTS Group advanced 0.97 percent, CP All Public weakened 1.07 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods skidded 1.04 percent, Energy Absolute improved 0.76 percent, Gulf sank 0.83 percent, Kasikornbank slipped 0.25 percent, Krung Thai Bank vaulted 1.48 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 1.68 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.79 percent, PTT crashed 2.68 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.66 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 3.80 percent, SCG Packaging cratered 6.67 percent, Siam Concrete stumbled 1.75 percent, True Corporation shed 0.68 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.88 percent and Siam Commercial Bank and Banpu were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending ta session lows.

The Dow tumbled 537.33 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 49,526.17, while the NASDAQ plunged 410.05 points or 1.54 percent to close at 26,225.14 and the S&P 500 sank 92.74 points or 1.24 percent to end at 7,408.50.

For the week, the S&P perked 0.1 percent, while the NASDAQ eased 0.1 percent and the Dow slipped 0.2 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which lifted the NASDAQ and S&P 500 to record highs, with technology shares leading the markets lower.

A sharp increase in treasury yields also weighed on the markets, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note surging to its highest levels in almost a year after recent data has shown significant accelerations in the pace of consumer and producer price inflation, leading to concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday after the U.S.-China summit ended with no announcement of Chinese intervention to end the gulf war, leaving the Strait of Hormuz blockade in place. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was up $4.18 or 4.13 percent at $105.35 per barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide Q1 data for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.1 percent on quarter and 2.2 percent on year - down from 1.9 percent on quarter and 2.5 percent on year in the three months prior.