Thai Shares May Take Further Damage On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 50 points or 3.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,510-point plateau and it's expected to open lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the food, property, service, energy and financial shares were offset by support from the packaging and technology stocks..

For the day, the index shed 6.44 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 1,508.87 after trading between 1,506.36 and 1,516.23. Volume was 11.143 billion shares worth 38.566 billion baht. There were 333 decliners and 141 gainers, with 167 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.93 percent, while Asset World declined 1.23 percent, Banpu climbed 1.10 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.93 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical increased 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway stumbled 1.16 percent, B. Grimm plunged 2.84 percent, BTS Group fell 0.64 percent, CP All Public slumped 0.78 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods skidded 1.01 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 3.56 percent, Gulf surrendered 2.66 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.75 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.51 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 1.99 percent, PTT Oil & Retail sank 0.94 percent, PTT improved 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production strengthened 1.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 1.31 percent, SCG Packaging tanked 2.01 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 0.46 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.31 percent, Thai Oil jumped 1.67 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.27 percent and True Corporation and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and largely spent the day in the red, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 129.83 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 34,288.64, while the NASDAQ sank 25.12 points or 0.18 percent to close at 13,791.65 and the S&P 500 fell 8.77 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4,446.82.

The selling pressure came ahead of, and in response to, the latest batch of FOMC minutes which suggested a more hawkish tone for the outlook on interest rates than had been hoped.

The minutes also showed the members disagreed on rate hikes. After the June meeting, all but two of the 18 participants expected that at least one hike would be appropriate this year, and 12 expected two or more hikes.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured goods increased by much less than expected in May.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher on Wednesday, buoyed by government data showing a significant jump in U.S. crude shipments last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $2.00 or 2.9 percent at $71.79 a barrel.