Thai Stock Market Expected To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 15 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,175-point plateau and it figures to open to the downside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index dropped 12.45 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 1,175.45 after trading between 1,173.49 and 1,185.18. Volume was 5.166 billion shares worth 17.321 billion baht. There were 366 decliners and 103 gainers, with 167 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.73 percent, while Thailand Airport surrendered 2.53 percent, Asset World tumbled 2.31 percent, Banpu declined 1.41 percent, Bangkok Expressway dropped 0.91 percent, B. Grimm crashed 2.80 percent, BTS Group skidded 1.79 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.65 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 2.75 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.30 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.41 percent, Krung Thai Card tanked 2.14 percent, PTT Oil & Retail surged 4.39 percent, PTT declined 1.54 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plummeted 2.09 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 2.22 percent, SCG Packaging plunged 3.52 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.40 percent, Siam Concrete cratered 2.85 percent, Thai Oil weakened 1.96 percent, True Corporation rallied 1.69 percent, TTB Bank lost 0.50 percent and Bangkok Bank, Gulf, CP All Public and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened lower on Friday and only got worse as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 715.80 points or 1.69 percent to end at 41,583.90, while the NASDAQ tumbled 481.01 points or 2.70 percent to close at 17.322.99 and the S&P 500 dropped 112.37 points or 1.97 percent to end at 5,580.94. For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.6 percent, while the S&P lost 1.5 percent and the Dow shed 1.0 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid concerns about the outlook for the economy following the latest data, including the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on inflation.

While the Commerce Department report showed consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates, core consumer prices rose by slightly more than expected.

Stocks saw further downside after the University of Michigan released revised data showing consumer sentiment deteriorated more than estimated in March.

Oil prices fell Friday, but the most active futures contract still posted a weekly gain amid prospects of tighter supplies following the U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $69.36 a barrel, losing $0.56 or 0.8 percent. WTI crude futures gained 1.6 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide February numbers for imports, exports, trade balance and current account later today. In January, imports were up 7.5 percent on year and exports were up 12.9 percent for a trade surplus of $0.40 billion, while the current account surplus was $2.700 billion.