The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days in which it had picked up more than 40 points or 3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,365-point plateau and it figures to head south again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on concerns over the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the food, finance, industrial, resource and service sectors.
For the day, the index collected 10.96 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 1,364.60 after trading between 1,354.26 and 1,370.04. Volume was 8.580 billion shares worth 42.263 billion baht. There were 341 gainers and 134 decliners, with 187 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info increased 0.81 percent, while Thailand Airport perked 0.83 percent, Asset World soared 3.59 percent, Banpu sank 0.90 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.08 percent, Bangkok Expressway was up 0.66 percent, B. Grimm rallied 2.48 percent, BTS Group skyrocketed 5.34 percent, CP All Public rose 0.41 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gathered 0.40 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 3.17 percent, Kasikornbank jumped 1.77 percent, Krung Thai Bank strengthened 1.64 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 1.20 percent, PTT Oil & Retail added 0.67 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.36 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 4.00 percent, SCG Packaging accelerated 2.49 percent, Siam Commercial Bank advanced 0.94 percent, Siam Concrete shed 0.44 percent, Thai Oil gained 0.46 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.97 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.55 percent and Gulf, PTT and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened firmly in the red and only got worse as the day progressed.
The Dow plunged 626.15 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 40,836.93, while the NASDAQ plummeted 577.33 points or 3.26 percent to close at 17,136.30 and the S&P 500 tumbled 119.47 points or 2.12 percent to end at 5,528.93.
The sell-off on Wall Street came after the Institute for Supply Management noted continued decline by U.S. manufacturing activity in August. A separate report from the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a modest decrease by U.S. construction spending in July.
The weakness on Wall Street also came as some traders look to cash in on the previous sessions gains amid lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.
The Federal Reserve is almost universally expected to lower rates at its next meeting later this month, but there is some disagreement about the pace of rate cuts. According to CME Groups FedWatch Tool, there is a 63.0 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut later this month and a 37.0 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.
Oil prices fell sharply to a nine-month low on Tuesday on prospects of oversupply from OPEC weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $3.21 or 4.4 percent at $70.34 a barrel.