Thai Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, plunging more than 35 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,630-point plateau and it's looking at another soft lead for Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on fears for the global economy and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the energy producers and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index sank 11.93 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 16,30.40 after trading between 1,629.31 and 1,642.73. Volume was 20.850 billion shares worth 95.907 billion ringgit. There were 1,469 decliners and 375 gainers, with 386 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.52 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.69 percent, Asset World sank 0.83 percent, Banpu tumbled 2.14 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tanked 2.56 percent, Bangkok Expressway surged 5.49 percent, B. Grimm plummeted 2.05 percent, BTS Group climbed 1.14 percent, CP All Public dropped 0.84 percent, Energy Absolute retreated 1.40 percent, Gulf declined 1.37 percent, IRPC surrendered 1.83 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.34 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 1.20 percent, Krung Thai Card and True Corporation both dipped 0.41 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 0.93 percent, PTT Exploration and Production eased 0.30 percent, PTT Global Chemical weakened 1.10 percent, SCG Packaging lost 0.89 percent, Siam Commercial Bank slumped 1.41 percent, Thai Oil plunged 2.68 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, PTT and Siam Concrete were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened firmly lower and stayed that was throughout the session.

The Dow slumped 139.38 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 30,822.42, while the NASDAQ dropped 104.00 points or 0.90 percent to close at 11,448.40 and the S&P 500 fell 28.02 points or 0.72 percent to end at 3,873.33.

For the week, the Dow tumbled 4.1 percent, the S&P 500 plunged 4.8 percent and the NASDAQ plummeted 5.5 percent.

A steep drop by shares of FedEx (FDX) fueled the weakness on Wall Street, with the delivery giant plunging 21.4 percent to a two-year closing low. The sell-off by FedEx came after the company reported weaker than expected preliminary fiscal Q1 results and withdrew its full-year guidance.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates also continued to weigh on the markets ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision this week. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, although some see an outside chance for a 100-point rate hike.

Crude oil futures settled roughly flat on Friday following the resumption of oil exports from Iraq's Basra oil terminal, where a spillage had forced disruptions. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October settled at $85.11 a barrel, up $0.01 from the previous close. WTI crude futures shed nearly 2 percent in the week.