Thai Stock Market Expected To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 20 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,360-point plateau although it's expected to stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were solidly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the food, finance, industry, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index dropped 15.95 points or 1.16 percent to finish at 1,357.97 after trading between 1,354.73 and 1,370.39. Volume was 10.815 billion shares worth 37.996 billion baht. There were 403 decliners and 92 gainers, with 147 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.91 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.84 percent, Asset World surrendered 2.82 percent, Banpu plummeted 4.55 percent, Bangkok Bank declined 1.33 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.63 percent, B. Grimm tumbled 1.92 percent, BTS Group slid 0.70 percent, CP All Public crashed 3.32 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.54 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 1.17 percent, Kasikornbank retreated 1.56 percent, Krung Thai Card tanked 2.75 percent, PTT Oil & Retail stumbled 1.50 percent, PTT Exploration and Production shed 1.38 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 3.85 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skidded 1.01 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 1.03 percent, Thai Oil lost 1.45 percent, True Corporation weakened 0.98 percent and TTB Bank, Krung Thai Bank, SCG Packaging, Gulf, PTT and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages were flat for most of the day but surged in the afternoon following the Federal Reserve's rate decision.

The Dow surged 512.30 points or 1.40 percent to finish at a record 37,090.24, while the NASDAQ rallied 200.57 points or 1.38 percent to end at 14,733.96 and the S&P 500 gained 63.39 points or 1.37 percent to close at 4,707.09.

The surge on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged while also confirming plans to pivot to cutting rates next year.

The accompanying statement said the decision came as economic growth has slowed from its strong pace in the third quarter, while inflation has eased over the past year.

The projections provided by the Fed also suggest the central bank will begin cutting rates next year, with the median forecast indicating rates will be lowered to 4.6 percent by the end of 2024.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.86 or 1.3 percent at $69.47 a barrel.