No Help Yet For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, sinking more than 45 points or 3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,620-point plateau and it's likely to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with profit taking expected amid concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the energy producers and support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index fell 5.00 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 1,622.35 after trading between 1,618.09 and 1,637.41. Volume was 18.116 billion shares worth 80.312 billion baht. There were 1,030 decliners and 517 gainers, with 471 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info advanced 1.00 percent, while Thailand Airport gained 0.69 percent, Asset World sank 0.84 percent, Banpu tanked 2.68 percent, Bangkok Bank improved 0.62 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical declined 1.75 percent, Bangkok Expressway rallied 2.21 percent, B. Grimm jumped 1.96 percent, BTS Group increased 0.86 percent, CP All Public fell 0.40 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods declined 1.33 percent, Energy Absolute climbed 1.29 percent, Gulf added 0.48 percent, Kasikornbank improved 0.74 percent, Krung Thai Bank gathered 0.58 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.90 percent, PTT sank 0.78 percent, PTT Exploration and Production retreated 1.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical was down 0.53 percent, SCG Packaging slumped 0.48 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.48 percent, Siam Concrete dipped 0.30 percent, Thai Oil plunged 2.42 percent and TTB Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday. The Dow spent all day in the red, while the NASDAQ and S&P visited positive territory for a bit but couldn't hold the gains and ended under water.

The Dow tumbled 232.39 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 32,656.70, while the NASDAQ dipped 11.44 points or 0.10 percent to close at 11,455.54 and the S&P 500 fell 12.09 points or 0.30 percent to end at 3,970.15.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

In U.S. economic news, MNI Indicators released a report showing Chicago-area business activity unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in February. Also, the Conference Board said U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly decreased for the second consecutive month in February.

Following the pullback a day earlier, the price of crude oil showed a strong move back to the upside on Tuesday, thanks to optimism about increased demand from China. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery surged $1.37 or 1.8 percent to $77.05 a barrel.