More Pain Predicted For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, dipping just over 3 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,465-point plateau and it's tipped to open lower again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve rate decision this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industrial and property sectors.

For the day, the index eased 1.22 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,462.95 after trading between 1,461.46 and 1,473.28. Volume was 9.107 billion shares worth 28.418 billion baht. There were 309 decliners and 185 gainers, with 176 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Thailand Airport and BTS Group both climbed 0.81 percent, while Asset World gained 0.53 percent, Banpu improved 0.79 percent, Bangkok Bank and Kasikornbank both fell 0.34 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.90 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 1.25 percent, CP All Public rallied 1.57 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.21 percent, Energy Absolute tumbled 1.92 percent, Gulf increased 0.76 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.48 percent, Krung Thai Card skidded 1.05 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 0.65 percent, PTT sank 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.40 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 0.94 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.98 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.44 percent, Siam Concrete added 0.48 percent, Thai Oil surged 4.82 percent and True Corporation, TTB Bank, Advanced Info and B. Grimm were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, hugged the line for much of the day and finished in the red.

The Dow stumbled 257.59 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,794.60, while the NASDAQ shed 59.93 points or 0.33 percent to close at 18,179.98 and the S&P 500 sank 16.11 points or 0.28 percent to end at 5,712.69.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the U.S. elections on Tuesday, as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against former President Donald Trump.

With polls showing an extremely tight race between Harris and Trump, the outcome of the presidential election may not be known on Election Day.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, which is due to be announced on Thursday. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders will be looking to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, buoyed by OPEC's decision to delay plans to increase production, and on rising concerns about tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.98 or about 2.85% at $71.47 a barrel, extending gains to a fourth straight session.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide October numbers for consumer prices later today. Overall inflation is expected to rise 0.96 percent on year, up from 0.61 percent in September. Core CPI is seen higher by an annual 0.78 percent, up marginally from 0.77 percent a month earlier.