Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday snapped the three-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,465-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative, with pressure likely among technology stocks amid waning optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index jumped 18.84 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 1,466.04 after trading between 1,446.26 and 1,468.45. Volume was 13.442 billion shares worth 42.780 billion baht. There were 363 gainers and 131 decliners, with 168 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info spiked 2.61 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.41 percent, Asset World climbed 1.09 percent, Banpu improved 1.63 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.90 percent, B. Grimm rose 0.45 percent, CP All Public sank 0.78 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.40 percent, Energy Absolute jumped 2.60 percent, Gulf advanced 1.14 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.69 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.97 percent, Krung Thai Card gained 0.53 percent, PTT Exploration and Production increased 2.02 percent, PTT Global Chemical accelerated 2.97 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 2.00 percent, Siam Commercial Bank strengthened 1.34 percent, Siam Concrete soared 2.44 percent, Thai Oil gathered 0.61 percent, TTB Bank added 0.56 percent and Bangkok Bank, True Corporation, PTT Oil & Retail, PTT, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened solidly under water and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 378.08 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 41,763.46, while the NASDAQ plummeted 512.78 points or 2.76 percent to close at 18,095.15 and the S&P 500 slumped 108.22 points or 1.86 percent to end at 5,705.45.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META).

Traders were also reacting to closely watched consumer price inflation data that largely came in line with economist estimates, although core CPI resisted lower forecasts to remain unchanged. That added to recent concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates more slowly than hoped.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday amid expectations of increased demand from the U.S. and a likely delay in OPEC's planned output increase from December. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.65 or 0.95 percent at $69.26 a barrel.