Thai Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday ended the eight-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 75 points or 3.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,565-point plateau and it's likely to spin its wheels again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the food, finance, energy and technology stocks.

For the day, the index shed 10.73 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 1,565.94 after trading between 1m563.03 and 1,576.17. Volume was 17.532 billion shares worth 86.353 billion baht. There were 304 decliners and 183 gainers, with 162 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slid 0.46 percent, while Thailand Airport skidded 1.02 percent, Asset World stumbled 1.36 percent, Banpu surrendered 1.71 percent, Bangkok Bank sank 0.88 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gave up 1.75 percent, Bangkok Expressway dipped 2.26 percent, B. Grimm plummeted 4.90 percent, BTS Group eased 0.68 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.96 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 1.94 percent, Gulf dove 1.54 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.76 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.53 percent, Krung Thai Card lost 0.51 percent, PTT Oil & Retail plunged 2.39 percent, PTT was down 2.11 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 2.76 percent, PTT Global Chemical declined 1.32 percent, SCG Packaging surged 4.46 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.85 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.63 percent, Thai Oil slid 2.83 percent, True Corporation weakened 1.43 percent, TTB Bank tumbled 1.72 percent and CP All Public was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher but faded as the day progressed, ending on opposite side of the unchanged line.

The Dow sank 168.33 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 34,721.91, while the NASDAQ added 15.66 points or 0.11 percent to close at 14,034.97 and the S&P 500 eased 7.21 points or 0.16 percent to end at 4,507.66.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to a Commerce Department report showing consumer price growth in the U.S. accelerated in line with forecasts in July.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched jobs report later today.

Crude oil moved sharply higher on Thursday, advancing for the sixth consecutive session following another steep drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery surged $2 or 2.5 percent to $83.63 a barrel, a three-week closing high.