(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one session after it had ended the two-day slide in which it had tumbled almost 40 points or 2.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,590-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.
The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.
For the day, the index lost 5.27 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 1,591.21 after trading between 1,588.82 and 1,605.45. Volume was 19.490 billion shares worth 57.421 billion baht. There were 945 decliners and 649 gainers, with 405 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info soared 2.59 percent, Thailand Airport advanced 0.97 percent, Asset World added 0.83 percent, Banpu tumbled 1.75 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.91 percent, Bangkok Medical shed 0.42 percent, Bangkok Expressway spiked 1.85 percent, BTS Group gained 0.75 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods climbed 1.22 percent, Kasikornbank plunged 3.68 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.42 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.51 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 1.36 percent, Siam Concrete was down 0.84 percent, TMB Bank gathered 0.71 percent and Krung Thai Bank and PTT were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as stocks showed a lack of direction on Tuesday, as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Fed's rate decision and statement.
The Dow shed 19.26 points or 0.07 percent to end at 27,071.46, while the NASDAQ lost 49.13 points or 0.59 percent to 8,276.85 and the S&P 500 fell 2.53 points or 0.08 percent to 3,036.89.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a wait-and-see approach even though the Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates by another quarter point.
Some negative sentiment was generated by reports suggesting a phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China may not be signed by the summit in Chile next month.
A mixed reaction to the latest batch of earnings news also contributed to the lackluster performance, with a notable drop by Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) weighing on the tech-heavy NASDAQ.
In economic news, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence unexpectedly edged lower in October. Also, the National Association of Realtors showed another significant increase in pending home sales in the U.S. in September.
Crude oil futures edged lower on Tuesday amid expectations that data from Energy Information Administration (EIA) will show a jump in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December fell $0.27 or 0.5 percent at $55.54 a barrel, the lowest settlement in a week.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
