Thai Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for Chakri Day, the Thai stock market had moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 50 points or 4.2 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,125-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Tuesday as it catches up on missed sentiment.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests bargain hunting after a couple of sessions of extremely heavy losses, The European markets were sharply lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed but the Asian markets are due to tick higher.

The SET finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index stumbled 36.60 points or 3.15 percent to finish at 1,125.21 after trading between 1,122.21 and 1,156.02. Volume was 9.248 billion shares worth 48.338 billion baht. There were 491 decliners and 65 gainers, with 102 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slumped 2.04 percent, while Thailand Airport gave away 3.87 percent, Asset World weakened 2.50 percent, Banpu shed 1.42 percent, Bangkok Bank stumbled 3.11 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical eased 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway slipped 1.87 percent, B. Grimm sank 4.90 percent, BTS Group was down 4.76 percent, CP All Public dipped 2.45 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods fell 0.42 percent, Energy Absolute lost 2.91 percent, Gulf crashed 7.69 percent, Kasikornbank retreated 1.24 percent, Krung Thai Bank tumbled 3.40 percent, Krung Thai Card skidded 1.06 percent, PTT Oil & Retail contracted 3.23 percent, PTT slid 2.33 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plunged 8.23 percent, PTT Global Chemical plummeted 11.24 percent, SCG Packaging tanked 3.94 percent, Siam Commercial Bank declined 1.21 percent, Siam Concrete cratered 6.42 percent, Thai Oil gave up 6.00 percent, True Corporation dropped 4.96 percent and TTB Bank surrendered 2.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Monday but then hugged the line on both sides before finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow tumbled 349.26 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 37,965.60, while the NASDAQ added 15.48 points or 0.10 percent to close at 15,603.26 and the S&P 500 fell 11.83 points or 0.23 percent to end at 5,062.25.

Stocks initially extended the sell-off seen over the two previous sessions amid ongoing concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's new tariffs and retaliatory moves by U.S. trade partners.

Adding to worries about a global trade war, Trump threatened to impose an additional 50 percent tariff on Chinese goods unless the country withdraws its new 34 percent tariff on U.S. goods.

Selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, however, leading some traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels after the major averages hit their lowest intraday levels in over a year.

Crude oil prices tumbled again on Monday, extending the nosedive seen over the two previous sessions over tariff concerns. After plummeting nearly $10 a barrel last Thursday and Friday, West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery dropped $1.29 or 2.1 percent to $60.70 a barrel.