More Pain Predicted For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just shy of the 1,430-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns that the outlook for interest rates may have been too optimistic. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SET finished slightly lower on Wednesday as losses from the resource, service and technology sectors were mitigated by support from the food, finance and industrial stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 3.76 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 1,429.62 after trading between 1,426.21 and 1,436.38. Volume was 11.864 billion shares worth 45.254 billion baht. There were 292 gainers and 201 decliners, with 157 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.46 percent, while Thailand Airport improved 0.40 percent, Asset World skyrocketed 5.49 percent, Banpu retreated 1.45 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.64 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical surrendered 0.90 percent, CP All Public slumped 1.33 percent, Energy Absolute sank 0.54 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.37 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.54 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 1.03 percent, PTT dropped 0.70 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plunged 3.31 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.65 percent, SCG Packaging strengthened 1.38 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.33 percent, Thai Oil slid 0.47 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.96 percent, TTB Bank declined 1.19 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Siam Commercial Bank, B. Grimm, Gulf, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 284.85 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 37,430.19, while the NASDAQ dropped 173.73 points or 1.18 percent to close at 14,592.21 and the S&P 500 sank 38.02 points or 0.80 percent to end at 4,704.81.

The continued weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns investors have become too optimistic about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts.

Stocks saw some further downside as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting reiterated officials widely expect to begin lowering rates in 2024, but they also highlighted an "unusually elevated degree of uncertainty" about the outlook.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly slower rate in December. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged down from an upwardly revised level in November.

The price of crude oil moved rebounded on Wednesday, regaining ground on concerns about further attacks by Houthi militants against ships in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged $2.32 or 3.3 percent to $72.70 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide December data for consumer prices later today; in November, overall inflation was down 0.44 percent on year and core CPI rose an annual 0.58 percent.