Thai Bourse May Give Up Support At 1,300 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 40 points or 3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,305-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, thanks to concerns over tariffs and how they affect the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly lower again on Monday following losses from the food, consumer, industrial, property, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 10.11 points or 0.77 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,304.39 after plummeting as low as 1,270.87. Volume was 9.894 billion shares worth 54.272 billion baht. There were 410 decliners and 114 gainers, with 146 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tumbled 1.76 percent, while Thailand Airport was down 0.45 percent, Asset World shed 0.63 percent, Banpu weakened 1.60 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.97 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical eased 0.43 percent, Bangkok Expressway gave up 0.74 percent, B. Grimm slumped 1.97 percent, BTS Group cratered 1.63 percent, CP All Public improved 0.96 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods plunged 3.64 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 4.52 percent, Gulf fell 0.87 percent, Kasikornbank sank 0.93 percent, Krung Thai Card advanced 0.99 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 1.72 percent, PTT crashed 1.59 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 1.18 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 3.72 percent, SCG Packaging surrendered 3.03 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.80 percent, Siam Concrete retreated 1.95 percent, Thai Oil dipped 0.96 dipped 0.96 percent, True Corporation lost 0.85 percent and TTB Bank and Krung Thai Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened under water again on Monday and largely stayed that way, although they climbed up off session lows.

The Dow dropped 122.75 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 44,421.91, while the NASDAQ stumbled 235.49 points or 1.20 percent to close at 19,391.96 and the S&P 500 sank 45.96 points or 0.76 percent to end at 5,994.57.

Stocks moved sharply lower in early trading amid concerns about a global trade war after President Donald Trump officially imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10 percent tariff on imports from China. Trump also threatened possible tariffs against the United Kingdom and the European Union, marking a significant escalation.

Canada and Mexico ordered retaliatory tariffs on American goods, while China vowed countermeasures. The EU also warned of firm retaliation if targeted.

Investors fear that a trade war could hit the earnings of major companies and dent global growth. The tariffs could also lead to renewed inflation fears, leading the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold for longer.

Oil futures settled higher on Monday after Trump's imposed tariffs on imports from Canada threatened to disrupt North America's tightly integrated oil market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $73.16 a barrel, up $0.63 or about 0.87 percent.