Oversold Thai Bourse Nonetheless Called Lower Again

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, slumping more than 45 points or 3.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just shy of the 1,095-point plateau and it's likely to open to the downside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, as investors wait to see if there's any slowdown in the Iran/Israel conflict. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 19.00 points or 1.71 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,094.58 after peaking at 1,120.33. Volume was 8.359 billion shares worth 36.048 billion baht. There were 412 decliners and 81 gainers, with 162 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info dropped 1.42 percent, while Thailand Airport dipped 1.75 percent, Asset World weakened 1.71 percent, Banpu tanked 1.80 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.44 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slid 1.41 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 1.39 percent, B. Grimm surged 6.32 percent, BTS Group cratered 3.37 percent, CP All Public fell 1.11 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods crashed 8.80 percent, Energy Absolute surrendered 2.76 percent, Gulf plunged 6.36 percent, Kasikornbank declined 1.63 percent, Krung Thai Card and Krung Thai Bank both slumped 1.36 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 2.65 percent, PTT lost 0.83 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 1.99 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.61 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.85 percent, Thai Oil lost 2.63 percent, True Corporation plummeted 5.98 percent, TTB Bank contracted 1.54 percent and Siam Concrete and PTT Exploration and Production were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Wednesday's trade in positive territory before turning lower and ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 44.14 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 42,171.66, while the NASDAQ rose 25.18 points or 0.13 percent to close at 19,546.27 and the S&P 500 eased 1.85 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,980.87.

The lackluster day on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged. Fed officials still seem to expect to two interest rate cuts this year, lowering the rate to a range of 4.0 percent to 3.75 percent by the end of 2025.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits edged modestly lower last week. Also, the Commerce Department saw a steep drop by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of May.

Crude oil price ticked higher on Wednesday as the Israel-Iran conflict, which began with Israeli airstrikes on June 12, entered the sixth straight day with casualties increasing on both sides. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose by $0.30 to settle at $75.15 per barrel.