Thai Stock Market May Open To The Upside

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 25 points or 2 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,300-point plateau although it may see mild support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat with a touch of downside ahead of earnings news and economic data later this week. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses among the food, consumer, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index stumbled 15.60 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 1,301.54 after trading between 1,300.04 and 1,31.21. Volume was 9.168 billion shares worth 40.340 billion baht. There were 484 decliners and 75 gainers, with 107 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slumped 1.75 percent, while Thailand Airport surrendered 0.86 percent, Asset World tanked 3.08 percent, Bangkok Bank improved 0.75 percent, Bangkok Expressway lost 0.64 percent, B. Grimm advanced 0.92 percent, BTS Group surged 6.80 percent, CP All Public dipped 0.44 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 1.67 percent, Energy Absolute cratered 26.34 percent, Gulf eased 0.55 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.39 percent, Krung Thai Bank surged 4.68 percent, Krung Thai Card retreated 1.90 percent, PTT Oil & Retail declined 1.23 percent, PTT fell 0.78 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gained 0.35 percent, PTT Global Chemical plummeted 4.55 percent, SCG Packaging plunged 3.51 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.99 percent, Siam Concrete weakened 1.32 percent, Thai Oil tumbled 1.89 percent, True Corporation sank 1.09 percent, TTB Bank stumbled 1.70 percent and Banpu and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up soft as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and spent almost the entire session in the green before a late slump dropped them barely into negative territory.

The Dow shed 57.35 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 40,358.09, while the NASDAQ dipped 10.22 points or 0.06 percent to close at 17.997.35 and the S&P 500 fell 8.70 points or 0.16 percent to end at 5,555.71.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the outlook for the markets following recent volatility.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of key earnings and economic news in the coming days.

Later in the week, focus is likely to shift to a report on personal income and spending in June, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices fell to near seven-week lows on Tuesday as investors brace for a likely drop in demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.44 or 1.83 percent at $76.96 a barrel, the lowest settlement since June 7.