Thai Shares May Stop The Bleeding On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 30 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,160-point plateau although it's expected to move higher on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with bargain hunting likely on the menu after heavy selling in the previous sessions. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index declined 17.36 points or 1.48 percent to finish at 1,158.09 after trading between 1,155.05 and 1,169.09. Volume was 8.519 billion shares worth 40.260 billion baht. There were 409 decliners and 124 gainers, with 131 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.73 percent, while Thailand Airport contracted 1.95 percent, Asset World cratered 3.15 percent, Banpu plunged 1.90 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.67 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 1.80 percent, Bangkok Expressway gave up 0.92 percent, B. Grimm was down 1.92 percent, BTS Group plummeted 6.36 percent, CP All Public lost 1.00 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods fell 0.42 percent, Energy Absolute crashed 2.83 percent, Kasikornbank declined 1.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank weakened 1.63 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.55 percent, PTT Oil & Retail sank 0.84 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 0.43 percent, PTT Global Chemical surrendered 2.27 percent, SCG Packaging tanked 2.19 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tumbled 1.99 percent, Siam Concrete rallied 1.63 percent, Thai Oil skidded 2.00 percent, True Corporation stumbled 2.50 percent, TTB Bank slumped 1.51 percent and Gulf and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Monday but tracked higher throughout the session to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 417.86 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 42,001.76, the NASDAQ dipped 23.70 points or 0.14 percent to close at 17,299.29 and the S&P 500 added 30.91 points or 0.55 percent to end at 5,611.85.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners, which are set to begin Wednesday

Traders worry Trump's tariffs and possible retaliatory actions by targeted countries will fuel inflation, keep interest rates elevated and drag down global economic growth.

On the U.S. economic front, MNI Indicators released a report showing an unexpected increase by its reading on Chicago-area business activity in the month of March.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Monday on concerns that supply may not be able to keep up with demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was up $0.17 or 0.25 percent to $69.53 per barrel.