Losing Streak May Continue For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, shedding more than 35 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,270-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on rising ambiguity over the outlook for interest rates. 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 Tuesday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index lost 9.34 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,273.20 after trading between 1,272.68 and 1,290.84. Volume was 9.225 billion shares worth 40.147 billion baht. There were 403 decliners and 101 gainers, with 149 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info declined 1.37 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.65 percent, Asset World tumbled 2.52 percent, Banpu plummeted 4.24 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical fell 0.48 percent, Bangkok Expressway shed 0.98 percent, B. Grimm contracted 2.96 percent, BTS Group lost 5.03 percent, CP All Public sank 3.14 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods plunged 4.35 percent, Energy Absolute weakened 2.82 percent, Gulf crashed 3.87 percent, Krung Thai Card retreated 1.67 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 1.46 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 3.67 percent, SCG Packaging tanked 2.21 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 0.90 percent, Thai Oil cratered 4.17 percent, True Corporation surrendered 1.87 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, PTT and PTT Exploration and Production were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 88.76 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 46,292.78, while the NASDAQ shed 215.50 points or 0.95 percent to end at 22,573.47 and the S&P 500 sank 36.83 points or 0.55 percent to close at 6,656.92.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected concerns that stocks are overvalued following comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Speaking at an event Rhode Island, Powell described equity prices as "fairly highly valued" following the recent run to record highs.

Powell also addressed the outlook for monetary policy, noting that the Fed is facing a "challenging situation" as near-term risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday as Iraq's earlier-announced plans to export oil to Turkey from Kurdistan stalled due to payment issues. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.26 or 2.02 percent at $63.54 per barrel.