Thai Stock Market May Snap Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, tumbling almost 50 points or 3.5 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,360-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a lack of catalysts, while concerns over the outlook for interest rates continue to persist. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the resource, industrial, finance and consumer sectors.

For the day, the index shed 5.92 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 1,361.02 after trading between 1,349.00 and 1,372.99. Volume was 16.145 billion shares worth 54.028 billion baht. There were 276 decliners and 186 gainers, with 195 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info retreated 1.25 percent, while Asset World strengthened 1.37 percent, Banpu plunged 2.68 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical and CP All Public both advanced 0.91 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.22 percent, B. Grimm surrendered 1.90 percent, BTS Group dropped 0.81 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rallied 2.27 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 6.72 percent, Gulf stumbled 2.98 percent, Kasikornbank improved 0.80 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail climbed1.10 percent, PTT declined 1.44 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 3.05 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.50 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dropped 0.94 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.40 percent, Thai Oil weakened 1.28 percent, True Corporation tumbled 1.88 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.14 percent and Bangkok Bank, SCG Packaging and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, finished mixed with a downside bias.

The Dow rose 22.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 37,775.38, while the NASDAQ slumped 81.87 points or 0.52 percent to close at 15,601.50 and the S&P 500 sank 11.09 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,011.12.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. However, buying interest waned over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in April.

Also, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback by existing home sales in the U.S. last month.

Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.