Thai Bourse May Give Up Support At 1,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday halted the five-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 35 points or 3 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,405-point plateau, and the market may take further damage on Friday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to falling crude oil prices and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed, and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference. The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers. For the day, the index slid 6.75 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 1,405.41 after trading between 1,403.53 and 1,412.80. Volume was 9.463 billion shares worth 50.121 billion baht. There were 618 decliners and 478 gainers, with 323 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, coal miner Banpu climbed 1.86 percent, while Bangkok Bank shed 0.83 percent, Kasikornbank dropped 1.40 percent, energy giant PTT slipped 2.06 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tumbled 3.99 percent, PTT Global Chemical fell 0.83 percent, Siam Commercial Bank retreated 1.37 percent and Siam Concrete lost 0.86 percent. The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened in the red on Thursday before rebounding to end flat in the last day of the holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 eased 0.77 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,035.94, while the Dow crept up 13.14 points or 0.1 percent to 17,515.73 and the NASDAQ inched up 4.64 points or 0.1 percent to 4,773.50. For the week, the S&P 500 slid 0.7 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both fell 0.5 percent. Profit taking contributed to the initial weakness, along with concerns about the outlook for interest rates following comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard. Bullard said the relatively minor downgrades to the Fed's economic outlook suggest the next rate hike "may not be far off provided that the economy evolves as expected." A decrease by the price of crude oil also weighed on the markets in early trading, although a rebound contributed to the subsequent recovery by the markets. On the economic front, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended March 19. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed a pullback in durable goods orders in February.