Lower Open Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 35 points or 2.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,415-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over the Middle East conflict, although easing oil prices may limit the downside. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, property, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index slumped 23.40 points or 1.62 percent to finish at 1,417.45 after trading between 1,416.61 and 1,442.04. Volume was 10.382 billion shares worth 73.426 billion baht. There were 429 decliners and 98 gainers, with 123 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.79 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 3.03 percent, Asset World crashed 3.40 percent, Banpu soared 5.22 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.20 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical weakened 1.60 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 2.83 percent, B. Grimm crashed 7.83 percent, BTS Group gave up 2/91 percent, CP All Public surrendered 3.80 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tumbled 2.99 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 3.08 percent, Gulf contracted 2.64 percent, Kasikornbank declined 1.32 percent, Krung Thai Card cratered 3.33 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 1.77 percent, PTT rallied 2.24 percent, PTT Exploration and Production spiked 5.44 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 4.88 percent, SCG Packaging plunged 4.86 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.69 percent, Siam Concrete stumbled 1.89 percent, Thai Oil slumped 2.13 percent, True Corporation lost 0.72 percent, TTB Bank dropped 0.88 percent and Krung Thai Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and stayed that way for most of the session, although a late rally pared the damage to mild by the day's end.

The Dow dropped 203.72 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 46,021.43, while the NASDAQ sank 61.73 points or 0.28 percent to close at 22,090.69 and the S&P 500 fell 18.21 points or 0.27 percent to close at 6,606.49.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about the escalation of the war in the Middle East following attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the region.

However, after soaring to nearly $120 a barrel following the latest attacks, Brent crude oil futures have pulled back sharply, contributing to the recovery attempt by stocks.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday as traders dissected U.S. inventory data showing ample supply against production and supply disruption concerns due to the Middle East war. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down $0.18 or 0.19 percent at $96.14 per barrel.