Lower Open Likely For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than 20 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,380-point plateau and the slide is expected to continue on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of caution ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the property, resource, service and technology sectors were mitigated by support from the food and finance stocks.

For the day, the index sank 11.65 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 1,382.05 after trading between 1,380.88 and 1,390.26. Volume was 26.558 billion shares worth 55.291 billion baht. There were 332 decliners and 153 gainers, with 175 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport slumped 1.16 percent, Asset World tanked 2.55 percent, Banpu advanced 0.88 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical, CP All Public and SCG Packaging all dropped 0.85 percent, B. Grimm tumbled 2.80 percent, BTS Group climbed 0.99 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods soared 3.26 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 6.04 percent, Gulf stumbled 1.69 percent, Hana Microelectronics plummeted 13.25 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.63 percent, PTT Oil & Retail jumped 1.65 percent, PTT sank 0.70 percent, PTT Exploration and Production skidded 0.98 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 1.34 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.37 percent, Thai Oil surged 3.64 percent, True Corporation retreated 1.39 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.53 percent and Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Bangkok Expressway and Krung Thai Card were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday, pared their losses as the day progressed but still ended in the red.

The Dow shed 23.39 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 38,949.02, while the NASDAQ dropped 87.56 points or 0.55 percent and the S&P 500 sank 8.42 points or 0.17 percent to end at 5,069.76.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets ahead of the release of closely watched readings on consumer price inflation later today.

With Federal Reserve officials saying they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before they consider cutting interest rates, the data could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said the jump by real gross domestic product in the fourth quarter was downwardly revised to 3.2 percent from the previously reported 3.3 percent.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after data showed a much larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.33 or 0.42 percent at $78.54 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release January figures for imports, exports, trade balance, current account and industrial production later today. In December, imports were down 1.7 percent on year and exports rose 3.0 percent for a trade surplus of $2.30 billion. The current account showed a surplus of $2.10 billion, while industrial production sank an annual 6.27 percent.