Thai Stock Market May Test Support At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,615-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index shed 10.10 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 1,615.82 after trading between 1,612.41 and 1,628.51. Volume was 15.762 billion shares worth 57.090 billion baht. There were 1,254 decliners and 440 gainers, with 496 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info dropped 1.02 percent, while Thailand Airport skidded 1.04 percent, Asset World tumbled 1.82 percent, Bangkok Bank weakened 1.10 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 1.12 percent, B. Grimm surrendered 2.01 percent, CP All Public shed 0.41 percent, Energy Absolute retreated 1.20 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.32 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Card stumbled 2.10 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 0.94 percent, PTT slid 0.68 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.53 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 3.02 percent, Siam Commercial Bank declined 1.43 percent, Siam Concrete dipped 0.28 percent, True Corporation plunged 1.65 percent, TTB Bank was down 0.83 percent and Banpu, Bangkok Dusit Medical, BTS Group, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Gulf, IRPC, PTT Exploration and Production and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened sharply lower and remained deep in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 643.13 points or 1.91 percent to finish at 33,063.61, while the NASDAQ plunged 323.64 points or 2.55 percent to close at 12,381.57 and the S&P 500 sank 90.49 points or 2.14 percent to end at 4,137.99.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the weakness on Wall Street ahead of this week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming - where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to sound a more hawkish tone in his comments.

Aggressive monetary tightening by central banks in Europe add to the nervous sentiment, as do concerns about a possible recession in major economies.

Crude oil prices moved lower on Monday on concerns about outlook for energy demand, while the dollar's strength also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.54 or 0.6 percent at $90.23 a barrel.