Thai Shares Tipped To Open Under Water Again

(RTTNews) - The Thai Stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping almost 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,480-point plateau and it may see continued consolidation on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is gloomy after the Strait of Hormuz was shut down again over the weekend. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher on Friday, but the Asian bourses are now expected to open under pressure on Monday.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, resource, services and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 7.28 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 1,482.45 after trading between 1,472.58 and 1,489.14. Volume was 8.661 billion shares worth 56.999 billion baht. There were 264 decliners and 166 gainers, with 223 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info cratered 4.08 percent, while Thailand Airport slumped 0.90 percent, Asset World tumbled 1.77 percent, Banpu plummeted 5.26 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gained 0.54 percent, Bangkok Expressway soared 2.86 percent, BTS Group surrendered 2.80 percent, CP All Public shed 0.52 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.47 percent, Gulf declined 1.70 percent, Krung Thai Bank tanked 2.34 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.83 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.69 percent, Siam Concrete rallied 2.22 percent, True Corporation stumbled 2.08 percent, TTB Bank plunged 4.31 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Card, PTT Global Chemical, SCG Packaging, B. Grimm, Energy Absolute, PTT and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day, ending at session highs.

The Dow jumped 868.71 points or 1.79 percent to finish at 49.447.43, while the NASDAQ rallied 365.78 points or 1.52 percent to end at 24,468.48 and the S&P 500 gained 84.78 points or 1.20 percent to close at 7,126.06.

For the week, the NASDAQ skyrocketed 6.8 percent, the S&P 500 soared 4.9 percent and the Dow spiked 3.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came following news that Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz completely open to commercial traffic on the heels of the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

The news of the temporary reopening of the strait led to a nosedive by the price of crude oil, easing supply-related concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $11.17 or 10.58 percent at $84.11 per barrel.

The strength on Wall Street may also have reflected optimism about the strength of corporate earnings ahead of the quarterly results from several big-name companies this week.