Lower Open Predicted For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Monday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 20 points or 1.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,135-point plateau and it's expected to see continued consolidation on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on continuing concerns over the possibility of a trade war. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource, services and technology sectors.

For the day, the index tumbled 16.24 points or 1.41 percent to finish at 1,134.71 after trading between 1,130.56 and 1,149.33. Volume was 6.994 billion shares worth 32.467 billion baht. There were 339 decliners and 156 gainers, with 163 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info and Bangkok Bank both dipped 0.35 percent, while Thailand Airport gave up 1.97 percent, Asset World plummeted 4.46 percent, Banpu dropped 3.23 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical added 0.43 percent, Bangkok Expressway eased 2.50 percent, B. Grimm shed 1.83 percent, BTS Group was down 2.48 percent, CP All Public dipped 0.50 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.39 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 3.70 percent, Gulf crashed 4.81 percent, Krung Thai Bank plunged 5.16 percent, Krung Thai Card declined 1.62 percent, PTT Oil & Retail jumped 1.57 percent, PTT lost 0.81 percent, PTT Exploration and Production weakened 2.43 percent, PTT Global Chemical skidded 1.10 percent, SCG Packaging sank 0.77 percent, Siam Commercial Bank stumbled 2.17 percent, Siam Concrete cratered 3.87 percent, Thai Oil slid 4.07 percent, True Corporation gained 0.84 percent, TTB Bank surrendered 3.70 percent and Kasikornbank was unchanged.

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

The Dow plummeted 971.82 points or 2.48 percent to finish at 38,170.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 415.55 points or 2.55 percent to close at 16,870.37 and the S&P 500 dropped 124.50 points or 2.36 percent to end at 5,158.20.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about a global trade war as traders await signs of progress from President Donald Trump's trade talks.

Potentially adding to the worries, China has threatened to retaliate against any countries that reach a trade deal with the U.S. at the expense of China's interests.

Trump's continued attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell added to the negative sentiment; he called on the Fed to lower rates last week, declaring, "Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!"

Crude oil prices pulled back sharply Monday on reports of progress in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, while trade war concerns also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery plunged $1.60 or 2.5 percent to $63.08 a barrel.