Thai Stock Market May Halt Its Slid On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,335-point plateau although it's likely to find traction on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on easing treasury yields. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, property, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index lost 8.34 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 1,337.32 after trading between 1,336.07 and 1,354.75. Volume was 13.385 billion shares worth 45.992 billion baht. There were 381 decliners and 118 gainers, with 159 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 1.97 percent, while Thailand Airport slumped 1.54 percent, Asset World skidded 1.05 percent, Banpu advanced 0.93 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.37 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical climbed 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway plummeted 4.46 percent, B. Grimm tumbled 2.01 percent, BTS Group plunged 4.17 percent, CP All Public dipped 0.43 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.88 percent, Energy Absolute surrendered 2.62 percent, Gulf stumbled 1.85 percent, Kasikornbank and PTT both sank 0.76 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.58 percent, Krung Thai Card lost 0.55 percent, PTT Oil & Retail retreated 1.66 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 0.32 percent, SCG Packaging surged 4.51 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete added 0.42 percent, Thai Oil declined 1.45 percent, True Corporation soared 2.33 percent and TTB Bank and PTT Global Chemical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages spent much Tuesday under water before a late rally nudged them modestly up into the green.

The Dow climbed 140.26 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 38,711.29, while the NASDAQ rose 28.38 points or 0.17 percent to close at 16,857.05 and the S&P 500 perked 7.94 points or 0.15 percent to end at 5,291.34.

The higher close by the major averages came on a notable decrease by treasury yields, which extended their recent decline. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note closed lower for the fourth straight session, pulling back further off the nearly one-month closing high last Wednesday.

The continued advance by treasuries came amid signs of weakness in the labor market, with a report from the Labor Department showing a modest decrease in U.S. job openings in April.

On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly jobs report, which could have a significant impact on the outlook for the economy and interest rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns about possible oversupply in the market after OPEC decided to phase out voluntary production cuts from October. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July fell $0.97 or 1.3 percent at $73.25 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide May data for consumer prices later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.1 percent on year following the 0.19 percent gain in April. Core CPI is seen higher by an annual 0.36 percent, easing from 0.37 percent in the previous month.