Thai Stock Market Likely To Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than a dozen points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,440-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares likely to lead the way lower. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the consumer, property, resource and service sectors were mitigated by support from the technology and financial shares.

For the day, the index dipped 3.16 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 1,439.89 after trading between 1,439.01 and 1,456.92. Volume was 8.709 billion shares worth 41.482 billion baht. There were 302 decliners and 160 gainers, with 199 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.69 percent, while Asset World retreated 1.61 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical declined 1.39 percent, Bangkok Expressway lost 0.68 percent, B. Grimm plunged 3.26 percent, BTS Group was down 1.72 percent, CP All Public and Gulf both skidded 1.19 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.42 percent, Energy Absolute soared 3.96 percent, Kasikornbank rallied 1.29 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.95 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.51 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tanked 2.13 percent, PTT stumbled 1.55 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 1.60 percent, PTT Global Chemical dropped 0.80 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.97 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.42 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.73 percent, Thai Oil tumbled 1.97 percent, TTB Bank spiked 2.19 percent and Bangkok Bank, True Corporation, Banpu and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but quickly headed south and remained in the red for the balance of day, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 234.44 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 43,914.12, while the NASDAQ sank 132.05 points or 0.66 percent to close at 19,769.84 and the S&P 500 lost 32.94 points or 0.54 percent to end at 6,051.25.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on the strong performance seen on Wednesday, when the tech-heavy NASDAQ closed above 20,000 for the first time ever.

Some negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of November.

While the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to lower interest rates next week, the data has raised some concerns about how quickly the central bank will cut rates early next year.

Oil futures closed lower Thursday after three days of gains after the International Energy Agency's forecast that the oil market will see excess supply next year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.27 or 0.4 percent at $70.02 a barrel.