Thai Stock Market Due For Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's Labor Day holiday, the Thai stock market had moved lower in consecutive trading days, slipping almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just below the 1,530-point plateau although it may halt its slide on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC's rate decision on Wednesday. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index eased 2.11 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 1,529.12 after trading between 1,524.30 and 1,542.41. Volume was 14.019 billion shares worth 45.045 billion baht. There were 712 decliners and 628 gainers, with 482 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport increased 0.34 percent, while Asset World tumbled 1.85 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.85 percent, Bangkok Expressway retreated 1.67 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 1.31 percent, BTS Group declined 1.28 percent, CP All Public rose 0.39 percent, Energy Absolute dropped 1.09 percent, Gulf gained 0.50 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 1.19 percent, Krung Thai Card soared 2.43 percent, PTT perked 0.81 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tanked 2.31 percent, PTT Global Chemical added 0.61 percent, Siam Concrete advanced 0.96 percent, Thai Oil shed 0.53 percent, True Corporation slumped 1.24 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, SCG Packaging, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Banpu, PTT Oil & Retail and Advanced Info were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative after the major averages spent most of Monday in positive territory before a late slide saw them finish slightly in the red.

The Dow shed 46.46 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 34,051.70, while the NASDAQ lost 13.99 points or 0.11 percent to close at 12,212.60 and the S&P 500 eased 1.61 points or 0.04 percent to end at 4,167.87.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said manufacturing activity contracted for the sixth straight month in April. Also, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected increase in U.S construction spending in March.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Monday, weighed down by concerns about economic growth and worries about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $1.12 or 1.5 percent at $75.66 a barrel.