Recovery Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, separated by the long holiday weekend - giving up more than 30 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,130-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly positive on a slightly improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 17.16 points or 1.49 percent to finish at 1,132.02 after trading between 1,127.57 and 1,149.68. Volume was 9.769 billion shares worth 49.605 billion baht. There were 403 decliners and 117 gainers, with 146 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info soared 2.45 percent, while Thailand Airport weakened 1.50 percent, Asset World crashed 3.54 percent, Banpu declined 1.29 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.06 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.93 percent, B. Grimm added 0.51 percent, BTS Group surged 3.14 percent, CP All Public spiked 2.66 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rallied 2.04 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 5.52 percent, Gulf surrendered 2.22 percent, Kasikornbank dropped 0.97 percent, Krung Thai Bank stumbled 2.70 percent, Krung Thai Card cratered 3.25 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 0.85 percent, PTT slumped 0.84 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dipped 0.26 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 3.37 percent, SCG Packaging fell 0.61 percent, Siam Commercial Bank retreated 1.69 percent, Siam Concrete tumbled 3.31 percent, True Corporation sank 0.80 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.52 percent and Thai Oil and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but gave back almost off of their gains to finish mixed and flat.

The Dow dropped 91.90 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 42,427.74, while the NASDAQ gained 61.53 points or 0.32 percent to close at 19,460.49 and the S&P 500 perked 0.44 points or 0.01 percent to end at 5,970.81.

The lackluster performance followed the release of some weaker than expected U.S. economic data. While the data raised concerns about the strength of the economy, it also generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP reported much weaker than expected private sector job growth in May. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted in May.

However, the Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting later this month, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 95.6 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged.

Crude oil futures moved to the downside during trading on Wednesday, reflecting easing supply concerns as rains slowed the growth of blazes that had disrupted Canadian crude production. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery fell $0.56 or 0 .9 percent to $62.85 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide May numbers for consumer prices later today; in April, overall inflation was down 0.22 percent on year, while core CPI climbed an annual 0.98 percent.