Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has tracked lower in two straight sessions, slipping more than 15 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,370-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, although losses from the technology stocks may be mitigated by support from the oil companies. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, finance, consumption, property, industrial, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index dropped 8.55 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 1,372.49 after trading between 1,368.21 and 1,385.61. Volume was 14.905 billion shares worth 41.151 billion baht. There were 343 decliners and 148 gainers, with 167 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slid 0.48 percent, while Thailand Airport eased 0.38 percent, Asset World lost 0.51 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.42 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Siam Commercial Bank both sank 0.87 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 0.62 percent, B. Grimm plunged 2.63 percent, BTS Group surged 4.59 percent, CP All Public gained 0.46 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.54 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 2.11 percent, Gulf slumped 0.56 percent, Kasikornbank stumbled 1.61 percent, Krung Thai Card skidded 1.10 percent, PTT Oil & Retail weakened 1.11 percent, PTT declined 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production surrendered 0.66 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.85 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.40 percent, Thai Oil was down 0.84 percent, True Corporation tumbled 1.89 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.54 percent and Krung Thai Bank, PTT Global Chemical and Banpu were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and largely remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 162.26 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 39,313.64, while the NASDAQ sank 44.35 points or 0.27 percent to close at 16,384.47 and the S&P 500 fell 15.99 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,218.19.

Weakness among technology stocks weighed on the markets, with semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) plunging by as much as 4.7 percent after reports suggested that China has introduced new guidelines to phase microprocessors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) out of government PCs and servers.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days, including key inflation numbers on Friday.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in February.

Oil prices moved higher on Monday amid concerns about supply disruptions after Ukraine continued to attack Russian refineries. A weak dollar amid expectations of interest rate cuts by central banks contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.32 or 1.64 percent at $81.95 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see February figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to rise 2.65 percent on year after adding 2.60 percent in January. Exports are called higher by an annual 3.45 percent, moderating from 10.0 percent. The trade deficit is pegged at $800 million following the $2.760 billion shortfall a month earlier.