Thai Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of two-day winning streak in which it had improved more than 20 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,340-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Wednesday as mild losses from the food, consumer, service and technology sectors were mitigated by support from the financials.

For the day, the index dipped 2.58 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 1,343.19 after trading between 1,341.32 and 1,351.68. Volume was 6.345 billion shares worth 27.434 billion baht. There were 272 decliners and 190 gainers, with 205 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info skidded 1.04 percent, while Asset World lost 0.63 percent, Banpu slumped 0.97 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.65 percent, Bangkok Expressway soared 2.92 percent, B. Grimm retreated 1.27 percent, BTS Group increased 0.79 percent, CP All Public fell 0.44 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.87 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 8.38 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Bank rallied 1.30 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.49 percent, PTT Oil & Retail stumbled 1.68 percent, PTT Exploration and Production strengthened 1.22 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.80 percent, SCG Packaging spiked 2.45 percent, Siam Commercial Bank improved 0.80 percent, Thai Oil tanked 2.78 percent, TTB Bank soared 3.14 percent and Siam Concrete, True Corporation, Gulf, PTT, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but they all trended lower throughout the day and finished under water.

The Dow dropped 136.83 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 44,713.52, while the NASDAQ slumped 101.26 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,632.32 and the S&P 500 sank 28.39 points or 0.47 percent to end at 6,039.31.

The lower close on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged following its first monetary policy meeting of 2025.

The decision to leave rates unchanged came as the Fed noted inflation remains "somewhat elevated" and reiterated its strong commitment to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.

The central bank's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for March 18-19; CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 77.6 percent chance the Fed will once again leave rates unchanged.

Oil prices dropped on Wednesday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. rose last week, while concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China continued to weigh on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended lower by $1.15 or 1.56 percent at $72.62 a barrel.