Little Movement Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the eight-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 65 points or 4 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,610-point plateau and it's expected to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast is mixed to higher as markets are expected to recover from selling pressure earlier this week. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index fell 5.91 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 1,612.60. Volume was 17.879 billion shares worth 59.255 billion baht. There were 944 decliners and 533 gainers, with 483 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World slid 0.57 percent, while Banpu advanced 0.93 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 0.95 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical weakened 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway stumbled 1.61 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 1.35 percent, BTS Group surrendered 0.65 percent, CP All Public rose 0.30 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.45 percent, Gulf skidded 0.98 percent, Kasikornbank tanked 2.48 percent, Krung Thai Card declined 1.32 percent, PTT Oil & Retail plunged 2.76 percent, PTT slumped 0.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tumbled 1.95 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.52 percent, SCG Packaging retreated 1.40 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.95 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 0.90 percent, Thai Oil was down 0.48 percent, True Corporation added 0.60 percent, TTB Bank lost 0.72 percent and Thailand Airport, Advanced Info, Krung Thai Bank and Energy Absolute were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as spent most of Wednesday bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, finally finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow lost 58.06 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,798.40, while the NASDAQ gained 45.67 points or 0.40 percent to close at 11,576.00 and the S&P 500 perked 5.64 points or 0.14 percent to end at 3,992.01.

The choppy trading on Wall Street reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Tuesday's sell-off, which reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest following remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. increased more than expected in February. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. fell to 10.8 million in January from 11.2 million in December.

Crude oil prices slipped on Wednesday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns about outlook for energy demand following Powell's remarks to Congress. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.92 or 1.2 percent at $76.66 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see February results for its consumer confidence index later today; in January, the index score was 51.7.