Thai Stock Market Tipped To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, stumbling more than 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,415-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the green on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index sank 12.62 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 1,415.41 after trading between 1,405.30 and 1,428.13. Volume was 11.555 billion shares worth 74.002 billion baht. There were 387 decliners and 135 gainers, with 143 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport dipped 0.40 percent, while Asset World tumbled 1.65 percent, Banpu sank 0.85 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.65 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 2.52 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 0.62 percent, B. Grimm rallied 1.30 percent, BTS Group slid 1.69 percent, CP All Public weakened 1.52 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods stumbled 1.78 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 3.47 percent, Gulf fell 0.45 percent, Kasikornbank rose 0.32 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.49 percent, Krung Thai Card gained 0.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 1.18 percent, PTT surrendered 2.22 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 1.07 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.73 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.89 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.45 percent, Siam Concrete retreated 1.24 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 3.21 percent, TTB Bank dropped 0.98 percent and Advanced Info and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off early weakness and trended steadily higher throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow climbed 124.75 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 40,861.71, while the NASDAQ surged 369.65 points or 2.17 percent to end at 17,395.53 and the S&P 500 rallied 58.61 points or 1.07 percent to close at 5,554.13.

The early sell-off on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched consumer price inflation report for August.

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

Stocks moved sharply lower as the data seemingly reduced the chances that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates by 50 basis points next week. But selling pressure waned dramatically over the course session as the Fed is still expected to continue lowering rates in the coming months.

Crude oil prices surged higher on Wednesday, recovering from a three-year low in the previous session thanks to fears of prolonged production shutdowns in the offshore oil patch due to Hurricane Francine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $1.56 or 2.37 percent at $67.31 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see August results for its consumer confidence index later today; in July, the index score was 57.7.