Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, giving up almost 25 points or 1.6 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,570-point plateau and it's not expected to find relief on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is week after Iran closed down the Strait of Hormuz again over the weekend. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were off and the Asian markets also figure to open in the red.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, consumer, finance and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 12.56 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 1,572.50 after trading between 1,570.10 and 1,592.34. Volume was 9.302 billion shares worth 68.931 billion baht. There were 223 decliners and 219 gainers, with 213 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.28 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.42 percent, Asset World improved 0.77 percent, Bangkok Bank slipped 0.57 percent, Bangkok Expressway stumbled 1.71 percent, CP All Public slumped 0.53 percent, Energy Absolute jumped 1.97 percent, Gulf increased 0.79 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.49 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.37 percent, Krung Thai Card dropped 0.78 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 0.81 percent, PTT and Siam Commercial Bank both sank 0.70 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.37 percent, PTT Global Chemical soared 3.88 percent, SCG Packaging spiked 3.92 percent, Thai Oil climbed 1.12 percent, True Corporation shed 0.72 percent, TTB Bank tumbled 1.65 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Siam Concrete, Banpu, B. Grimm, Bangkok Dusit Medical and BTS Group were unchanged.

The markets on Wall Street were closed on Friday for the Juneteenth holiday, but the European bourses ended mostly under water.

The UK's FTSE 100 ended down 0.35 percent, while Germany's DAX drifted down 0.16 percent and France's CAC 40 lost 0.55percent and Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.06 percent.

The weakness that emerged was due to uncertainty about U.S. and Iran securing a lasting peace truce in the Middle East following the abrupt cancellation of talks between the two nations in Switzerland.

The cancellation happened following exchange of fresh attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, and Iran then accused the U.S. of breaking the agreement - since one of the main conditions was for Israel to also cease hostilities.

Crude oil prices tumbled last week on reports that the Strait of Hormuz was re-opened, falling more than 10 percent from the previous week's close to below $80. But Iran closed the strait again over the weekend, likely prompting a rebound in crude prices this week.