Thai Bourse May Hand Back Monday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Monday ended the five-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,575-point plateau although it may head south again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower amid weakness from technology shares and concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses figure to also open to the downside.

The SET finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the food, finance and technology sectors were offset by weakness from the resource, service and industrial shares.

For the day, the index perked 1.63 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 1,574.13 after trading between 1,568.05 and 1,580.86. Volume was 8.789 billion shares worth 66.899 billion baht. There were 231 decliners and 210 gainers, with 220 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.12 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.42 percent, Asset World contracted 1.53 percent, Banpu dropped 0.93 percent, Bangkok Bank spiked 2.86 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 1.09 percent, Bangkok Expressway rallied 1.74 percent, BTS Group plunged 2.83 percent, CP All Public tanked 2.15 percent, Energy Absolute shed 0.65 percent, Gulf plunged 4.30 percent, Kasikornbank collected 1.45 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.69 percent, Krung Thai Card increased 0.78 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tumbled 1.61 percent, PTT strengthened 1.42 percent, PTT Exploration and Production fell 0.37 percent, PTT Global Chemical retreated 1.49 percent, SCG Packaging vaulted 1.89 percent, Siam Commercial Bank jumped 1.77 percent, TTB Bank improved 0.84 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Siam Concrete, True Corporation, B. Grimm and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south before finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 148.01 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 51,712.71, while the NASDAQ tumbled 351.33 points or 1.32 percent to close at 26,166.60 and the S&P 500 sank 27.79 points or 0.37 percent to end at 7,472.79.

The slump by the NASDAQ came amid weakness among technology stocks, with shares of SpaceX (SPCX) plummeting by 16.4 percent. An increase by treasury yields weighed on tech stocks, as the yield on the two-year note reaches its highest levels in over a year.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates drove yields higher ahead of the release of key inflation data later in the week.

Traders seem worried that an acceleration in the pace of inflation as a result of President Donald Trump's war with Iran could lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this year.

Crude oil prices plunged on Monday even though the Iranian military says it has again closed off the Strait of Hormuz, although there are reports of commercial vessels are operating freely in the strait. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $1.63 or 2.13 percent at $74.97 per barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled release May numbers for imports, exports and trade balance sometime this week; in April, imports were up 45.0 percent and exports climbed an annual 23.1 percent for a trade deficit of $10.020 billion.