The Thai stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 30 points or 1.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,820-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to concerns over a U.S. government shutdown and a fall in crude oil prices. 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 Thursday following losses from the financial shares and a mixed performance from the energy producers.
For the day, the index shed 9.56 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 1,819.32 after trading between 1,819.18 and 1.837.92. Volume was 11.953 billion shares worth 81.813 billion baht. There were 761 decliners and 541 gainers, with 446 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.26 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.35 percent, Banpu surged 2.26 percent, Bangkok Medical added 0.48 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.65 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tumbled 1.22 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 2.16 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.97 percent, PTT retreated 0.83 percent, PTT Exploration and Production picked up 0.44 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 0.79 percent, Siam Commercial Bank plummeted 3.09 percent and Siam Concrete and Bangkok Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks gave ground on Thursday as the major averages eased from Wednesday's record closing highs.
The Dow shed 97.84 points or 0.37 percent to 26,017.81, while the NASDAQ lost 2.23 points or 0.03 percent to 7,296.05 and the S&P 500 fell 4.53 points or 0.16 percent to 2,798.03.
The weakness on Wall Street was partly attributed to concerns about a potential government shutdown, with a deadline to pass a spending bill looming today.
Profit taking may also have contributed to the pullback by stocks, with some traders cashing on the recent run to record highs.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop in new residential construction in December, while the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits pulled back to lowest level in nearly 45 years in the week ended January 13th.
Crude oil prices were flat Thursday amid speculation the fossil fuel is overbought near three-year highs. After cold weather interruptions, U.S. crude production rose 258,000 barrels per day to 9.75 million bpd last week. February WTI oil was down 2 cents to $63.95/bbl on Nymex.
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