Thai Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 35 points or 2.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,585-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat and mixed to lower on recession concerns and sliding crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index shed 8.29 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 1,586.18 after trading between 1,582.52 and 1,590.05. Volume was 18.562 billion shares worth 55.564 billion baht. There were 1,204 decliners and 440 gainers, with 497 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tanked 2.45 percent, while Thailand Airport declined 1.39 percent, Asset World fell 0.40 percent, Banpu gained 0.80 percent, Bangkok Bank slid 0.37 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical rose 0.40 percent, Bangkok Expressway shed 0.56 percent, BTS Group lost 0.57 percent, CP All Public sank 0.82 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.95 percent, Energy Absolute retreated 1.51 percent, Gulf skidded 1.04 percent, IRPC weakened 0.61 percent, Kasikornbank dipped 0.33 percent, Krung Thai Card dropped 0.85 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slumped 0.94 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.62 percent, PTT Global Chemical was down 0.54 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 1.78 percent, Siam Commercial Bank surrendered 0.96 percent, Siam Concrete slipped 0.52 percent, True Corporation collected 0.42 percent, TTB Bank gave away 0.80 percent and Krung Thai Bank, PTT and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is fairly flat as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday, spiked up and down throughout the day before finally ending the session mixed and little changed.

The Dow climbed 82.32 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 31,029.31, while the NASDAQ dipped 3.65 points or 0.03 percent to close at 11,177.89 and the S&P 500 eased 2.72 points or 0.07 percent to end at 3,818.83.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets kept traders on the sidelines following recent volatility.

Traders also kept an eye on remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who participated in a panel discussion at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking. Powell reiterated that the U.S. economy is "well positioned to withstand tighter monetary policy" but cautioned there's no guarantee the Fed can engineer a "soft landing."

In economic news, revised data from the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic activity shrank by slightly more than previously estimated in the first quarter of 2022.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Wednesday, snapping a three-day winning streak with traders looking to the two-day OPEC meeting that began today to discuss supply issues. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.98 or 1.8 percent at $109.78 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide May figures for current account and for its coincident index later today. In April, the current account deficit was $3.4 billion, while the score on the coincident was 128.81.