Thai Shares May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) – The Thai stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, sliding more than 30 points or 2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,560-point plateau and it’s expected to extend its losses again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy statement later today. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and largely flat and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished barely lower on Tuesday as losses from the financials were offset by support from the energy producers.

For the day, the index dipped 0.30 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 1,559.23 after trading between 1,553.03 and 1,570.58. Volume was 42.212 billion shares worth 97.524 billion baht. There were 977 decliners and 585 gainers, with 533 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.29 percent, while Thailand Airport plunged 4.33 percent, Asset World spiked 3.08 percent, Bangkok Asset Management shed 0.49 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tumbled 1.79 percent, Bangkok Expressway skidded 1.25 percent, BTS Group lost 0.56 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.38 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.77 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 0.85 percent, PTT perked 0.65 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.44 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.39 percent, SCG Packaging surged 5.56 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.38 percent, TMB Bank climbed 1.71 percent and Bangkok Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Gulf and Siam Commercial Bank were unchanged.

There’s not much guidance from Wall Street as the major averages spent Tuesday’s session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 3.36 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 33,984.93, while the NASDAQ shed 48.56 points or 0.34 percent to end at 14,090.22 and the S&P 500 eased 0.90 points or 0.02 percent to close at 4,186.72.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as many traders stuck to the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision later today. The Fed is widely expected to maintain its ultra-easy monetary policy, but traders will look for any changes to the accompanying statement that may signal a shift in the near future.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board said consumer confidence spiked in April, hitting its highest level since February 2020.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday as OPEC’s decision to gradually increase oil output helped offset concerns about energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $1.03 or 1.7 percent at $62.94 a barrel.

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