Lower Open Expected For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for King Bhumibol's birthday, the Thai stock market had halted the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 30 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,640-point plateau although it's expected to open in the red on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns for the economy and for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were firmly in the red and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead. The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and energy producers. For the day, the index shed 6.81 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 1,641.63 after trading between 1,639.13 and 1,651.19. Volume was 14.670 billion shares worth 53.751 billion baht. There were 1,093 decliners and 432 gainers, with 534 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.79 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.34 percent, Asset World shed 0.80 percent, Banpu gained 0.76 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.03 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.85 percent, Bangkok Expressway lost 0.54 percent, B. Grimm added 0.67 percent, CP All Public declined 1.52 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.67 percent, Energy Absolute dipped 0.26 percent, IRPC slipped 0.65 percent, Kasikornbank weakened 1.04 percent, Krung Thai Bank was down 0.56 percent, Krung Thai Card slumped 0.84 percent, PTT Oil & Retail eased 0.41 percent, PTT surrendered 0.75 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tanked 1.88 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 2.60 percent, SCG Packaging improved 0.44 percent, Siam Commercial Bank slid 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete tumbled 1.47 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 1.33 percent, True Corporation lost 0.86 percent, TTB Bank gave away 0.72 percent and BTS Group and Gulf were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened modestly lower and the losses accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 482.78 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 33,947.10, while the NASDAQ slumped 221.56 points or 1.93 percent to close at 11,239.94 and the S&P 500 sank 72.86 points or 1.79 percent to end at 3,998.84.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following last Friday's stronger-than-expected jobs data.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next week, continued labor market tightness and elevated inflation may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated. A drop in treasuries compounded the uncertainty.

Adding to the worries about where rates will peak, the Institute for Supply Management said that U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly accelerated in November.

Oil prices fell on Monday as strong U.S. service data raised the prospects for more aggressive moves by the Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for January ended lower by $3.05 or 3.8 percent at $76.93 a barrel. Closer to home, Thailand will provide November data for consumer prices later today. Overall inflation is expected to rise 5.85 percent on year, slowing from 5.98 percent in October. Core CPI is tipped to rise to 3.2 percent from 3.17 percent in the previous month.