No Help Yet For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 50 points or 3.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,450-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on rising concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply lower on Tuesday with damage across the board, especially among the industrials, technology stocks and energy companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 22.16 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 1,447.30 after trading between 1,443.24 and 1,459.99. Volume was 12.485 billion shares worth 60.393 billion baht. There were 454 decliners and 74 gainers, with 118 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info dropped 0.88 percent, while Thailand Airport was down 0.71 percent, Asset World declined 1.56 percent, Banpu tumbled 3.75 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slid 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway dove 1.85 percent, B. Grimm crashed 3.60 percent, BTS Group gave away 2.04 percent, CP All Public skidded 1.23 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods surrendered 2.96 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 3.94 percent, Gulf weakened 2.75 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.40 percent, PTT Oil & Retail sank 2.16 percent, PTT fell 2.26 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 4.12 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 2.99 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 4.58 percent, Siam Concrete retreated 1.32 percent, Thai Oil cratered 3.52 percent, True Corporation stumbled 2.84 percent, TTB Bank tanked 2.34 percent and Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Krung Thai Card were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and continued to sink as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plunged 430.97 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 33,002.38, while the NASDAQ tumbled 248.31 points or 1.87 percent to close at 13,059.47 and the S&P 500 sank 58.94 points or 1.37 percent to end at 4,229.45.

The sell-off on Wall Street followed a report from the Labor Department unexpectedly showing a notable increase in U.S. job openings in August.

The data added to interest rate concerns amid worries strength in the labor market could convince the Federal Reserve to raise rates higher than had been anticipated and keep rates an elevated level for longer than expected.

The interest rate worries contributed to a continued surge by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note jumping to its highest level in 16 years.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday on optimism that OPEC+ won't change its production policy at the committee's meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $89.23 a barrel.