Thai Shares May Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the four-day slide in which it had slumped more than 30 points or 2.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,390-point plateau and it may see mild selling pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets expect to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the finance, property, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index dropped 13.73 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 1,387.69 after trading between 1,386.98 and 1,405.35. Volume was 13.501 billion shares worth 51.511 billion baht. There were 347 decliners and 136 gainers, with 158 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.46 percent, while Airport of Thailand tanked 2.48 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.66 percent, Bangkok Expressway surrendered 1.27 percent, BTS lost 1.39 percent, Banpu declined 1.28 percent, B. Grimm skyrocketed 5.94 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods climbed 1.03 percent, CP All Public plummeted 5.48 percent, Energy Absolute weakened 1.07 percent, Golf gained 0.54 percent, IRPC plunged 2.91 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 1.13 percent, Krung Thai Bank slumped 1.08 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 1.06 percent, PTT perked 0.72 percent, PTT Exploration and Production fell 0.33 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 1.31 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.75 percent, Siam Cement retreated 1.36 percent, Thai Oil dropped 0.97 percent, True Corporation tumbled 1.65 percent and TTB Bank, PTT Global Chemical, Asset World, PTT Oil & Retail and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 13.44 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 35,430.42, while the NASDAQ slid 23.27 points or 0.16 percent to close at 14,258.49 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.31 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,550.58.

Stocks saw early strength amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates, also riding a surge by shares of General Motors (GM) after the auto giant announced a $10 billion stock buyback and increased dividend.

Buying interest waned as the day has progress, however, with traders looking ahead to the release of key inflation readings later today.

Crude oil showed another strong move to the upside on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session ahead of a key OPEC meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery jumped $1.45 or 1.9 percent to $77.86 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release October numbers for imports, exports, trade balance, current account and industrial production later today. In September, imports fell 7.9 percent on year and exports rose 1.0 percent for a trade surplus of $3.80 billion. The current account surplus was $3.40 billion and industrial output slumped an annual 6.06 percent.