Thai Bourse May Find Traction On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slipping not quite 4 points or 0.3 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,375-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on conflicting signals over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Wednesday as losses from the food, finance, consumption, property and technology sectors were mitigated by support from the resource and industrial companies.

For the day, the index eased 3.77 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 1,375.69 after trading between 1,374.26 and 1,384.17. Volume was 14.193 billion shares worth 41.843 billion baht. There were 377 decliners and 115 gainers, with 167 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.38 percent, Asset World stumbled 1.42 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.08 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway surrendered 0.61 percent, BTS Group accelerated 1.79 percent, CP All Public spiked 1.85 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.55 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 2.92 percent, Gulf weakened 1.16 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.20 percent, Krung Thai Card slumped 1.10 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 0.55 percent, PTT strengthened 1.47 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rallied 1.61 percent, PTT Global Chemical jumped 1.86 percent, SCG Packaging sank 0.83 percent, Siam Commercial Bank declined 1.32 percent, Siam Concrete tumbled 1.93 percent, Thai Oil rose 0.42 percent and True Corporation, TTB Bank, Kasikornbank, Banpu and B. Grimm were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, moved modestly into the green and then finished mixed.

The Dow dipped 43.10 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 39,127.14, while the NASDAQ rose 37.01 points or 0.23 percent to close at 16,277.46 and the S&P 500 perked 5.68 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,211.49.

The early turnaround on Wall Street followed a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected slowdown in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in March.

Worries the Federal Reserve may hold off on lowering interest rates also contributed to the early weakness on Wall Street after payroll processor ADP noted stronger than expected private sector job growth in the U.S. in March.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated during remarks at Stanford University that the central bank is not in a hurry to begin lowering interest rates.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday after OPEC ended its meeting without making any changes to its production policy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.28 or 0.33 percent at $85.43 a barrel.