Renewed Selling Pressure Tipped For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 40 points or 3.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,250-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with technology stocks expected to continue to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index climbed 12.37 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 1,248.13 after trading between 1,228.43 and 1,251.14. Volume was 10.925 billion shares worth 43.127 billion baht. There were 309 gainers and 155 decliners, with 182 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.69 percent, while Asset World spiked 3.31 percent, Banpu advanced 0.86 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.32 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical was up 1.43 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 2.70 percent, BTS Group slumped 1.71 percent, CP All Public picked up 1.68 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rallied 2.98 percent, Energy Absolute expanded 2.34 percent, Gulf improved 2.15 percent, Kasikornbank rose 0.30 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.41 percent, Krung Thai Card jumped 1.77 percent, PTT Oil & Retail increased 0.77 percent, PTT perked 0.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production climbed 2.27 percent, PTT Global Chemical skyrocketed 10.41 percent, SCG Packaging surged 6.02 percent, Siam Commercial Bank gathered 0.39 percent, Siam Concrete soared 7.46 percent, Thai Oil exploded 4.92 percent, True Corporation accelerated 4.55 percent and TTB Bank, Thailand Airport and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be soft as the major averages spent most of Wednesday in the red and finally finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 16.04 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 44,938.31, while the NASDAQ sank 142.09 points or 0.67 percent to end at 21,172.86 and the S&P 500 fell 15.59 points or 0.24 percent to close at 6,395.78.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected an extended sell-off by technology stocks following reports indicating the Trump administration is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday.

Powell's remarks could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting in September. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.9 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next month.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. decreased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.79 or 1.3 percent at $63.14 a barrel.