Thai Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in three straight trading days, surrendering almost 25 points or 1.6 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,520-point plateau and it may remain stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision and statement later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the energy, food and finance stocks were mitigated by support from the industrial shares and technology companies.

For the day, the index slipped 4.61 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 1,522.96 after trading between 1,521.41 and 1,531.64. Volume was 9.587 billion shares worth 43.239 billion baht. There were 250 decliners and 201 gainers, with 194 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info improved 1.35 percent, while Thailand Airport weakened 0.71 percent, Asset World declined 1.48 percent, Banpu and SCG Packaging both added 0.65 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.60 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tanked 1.87 percent, B. Grimm slumped 0.81 percent, CP All Public tumbled 1.58 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.94 percent, Energy Absolute fell 0.44 percent, Gulf slid 0.54 percent, Kasikornbank retreated 1.55 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 1.06 percent, Krung Thai Card rallied 2.17 percent, PTT Oil & Retail stumbled 1.52 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gained 0.60 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.90 percent, Siam Concrete lost 0.65 percent, Thai Oil jumped 1.55 percent, True Corporation strengthened 1.32 percent, TTB Bank climbed 1.18 percent and PTT Global Chemical, PTT, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat, tumbled early and then saw a late recovery to finish with only modest losses.

The Dow shed 106.57 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 34,517.73, while the NASDAQ lost 32.05 points or 0.23 percent to close at 13,678.19 and the S&P 500 fell 9.58 points or 0.22 percent to end at 4,443.95.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders remained on edge ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement and the central bank's projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated by a Commerce Department report showing a sharp pullback in U.S. housing starts in August. Also, the Commerce Department said building permits surged more than expected in August.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday after posting gains in the three previous sessions to touch a 10-month high. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.28 or 0.3 percent at $91.20 a barrel.