Thai Stock Market May Stop The Bleeding On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 40 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,560-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support expected from the technology stocks and weakness from oil companies amid recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit on Monday.

The SET finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the energy producers were offset by gains from the financial shares.

For the day, the index dipped 1.71 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,559.39 after trading between 1,544.26 and 1,567.82. Volume was 24.539 billion shares worth 101.339 billion baht. There were 954 decliners and 714 gainers, with 548 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.25 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.37 percent, Banpu surrendered 2.33 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.74 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gathered 0.41 percent, Bangkok Expressway accelerated 1.73 percent, B. Grimm soared 3.79 percent, BTS Group spiked 3.66 percent, CP All Public added 0.42 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 1.92 percent, Energy Absolute improved 0.91 percent, Gulf rallied 2.76 percent, IRPC cratered 6.06 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.35 percent, Krung Thai Bank gained 0.65 percent, Krung Thai Card advanced 0.88 percent, PTT plunged 3.60 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tanked 2.11 percent, PTT Global Chemical slumped 3.31 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 7.04 percent, TTB Bank strengthened 1.61 percent and Siam Commercial Bank and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened higher on Friday, although the Dow was unable to hold its gains.

The Dow shed 38.29 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 29,888.78, while the NASDAQ surged 152.25 points or 1.43 percent to end at 10,798.35 and the S&P 500 rose 8.07 points or 0.22 percent to close at 3,674.84. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 3.8 percent and the S&P tumbled 5.8 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came amid a quadruple witching day, which refers to the expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.

Traders may also have been expressing some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Thursday's sell-off, which reflected concerns about the economic impact of aggressive monetary policy tightening.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve said industrial production increased less than expected in May, while the Conference Board showed a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators last month.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday on mounting fears about a possible global economic recession following severe tightening of policies by several central banks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $8.03 or 6.8 percent at $109.56 a barrel.