More Pain Predicted For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slumping more than 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,570-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for continued consolidation, with energy, steel and financial stocks likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow suit.

The SET finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the energy producers and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index skidded 17.85 points or 1.13 percent to finish at 1,568.33 after trading between 1,564.82 and 1,591.23. Volume was 20.891 billion shares worth 71.991 billion baht. There were 1,454 decliners and 357 gainers, with 369 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tanked 2.26 percent, while Asset World declined 1.21 percent, Bangkok Bank dipped 0.37 percent, Bangkok Expressway shed 0.57 percent, BTS Group skidded 1.16 percent, CP All Public and IRPC both retreated 1.23 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tumbled 1.89 percent, Energy Absolute slid 0.31 percent, Gulf surrendered 2.11 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.33 percent, PTT and PTT Oil & Retail both plunged 2.86 percent, PTT Exploration and Production cratered 2.45 percent, PTT Global Chemical weakened 1.09 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.45 percent, Siam Commercial Bank gained 0.48 percent, Siam Concrete slumped 1.58 percent, Thai Oil dropped 1.45 percent, True Corporation plummeted 3.77 percent, TTB Bank sank 0.81 percent and Thailand Airport, Banpu, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Krung Thai Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday, made back some ground as the day progressed but still ended well in the red.

The Dow dropped 253.88 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 30,775.43, while the NASDAQ tumbled 149.16 points or 1.33 percent to end at 11,028.74 and the S&P 500 sank 33.45 points or 0.88 percent to close at 3,785.38.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the global economic outlook and the possibility of a recession. Central bank chiefs have reaffirmed their resolve to pare inflation despite threats to economic growth.

A Commerce Department report provided further evidence of an economic slowdown, showing that personal spending increased less than expected in May.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower Thursday, extending the pullback seen in the previous session on lingering concerns about the outlook for demand amid the possibility of a recession. West Texas Intermediate for August delivery plunged $4.02 or 3.7 percent to $105.76 a barrel.