Little Movement Predicted For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 35 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,565-point plateau and it's likely to be rangebound on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on pessimism over corporate earnings and for energy demand. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial, resource, technology and service sectors.

For the day, the index dropped 15.63 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 1,565.10 after trading between 1,562.11 and 1,582.30. Volume was 14.098 billion shares worth 57.264 billion baht. There were 1,150 decliners and 351 gainers and 395 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.94 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.34 percent, Banpu skidded 1.04 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.32 percent, Bangkok Expressway dove 1.66 percent, B. Grimm retreated 1.91 percent, BTS Group was down 1.30 percent, CP All Public dipped 0.39 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.96 percent, Energy Absolute weakened 1.36 percent, Gulf tumbled 2.83 percent, Kasikornbank plunged 4.18 percent, Krung Thai Bank surged 4.79 percent, PTT Oil & Retail sank 0.90 percent, PTT surrendered 1.61 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tanked 2.85 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 2.38 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.75 percent, Siam Concrete declined 1.29 percent, Thai Oil slumped 1.52 percent, True Corporation gained 0.63 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Krung Thai Card, SCG Packaging and Asset World were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow stumbled 110.39 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 33,786.62, while the NASDAQ lost 97.67 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 12,059.56 and the S&P 500 fell 24.73 points or 0.60 percent to end at 4,129.79.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected disappointment in the latest earnings news from several big-name companies including Tesla (TSLA), AT&T (T) and America Express (AXP).

Negative sentiment was also generated by disappointing U.S. economic data, including a report from the Philadelphia Federal reserve showing regional manufacturing activity contracted at an accelerated rate in April.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday, extending losses from the previous session amid rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May sank $1.87 or 2.4 percent at $77.29 a barrel on the expiration day, the lowest since March 31.