The Thai stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had eased just over 3 points or 0.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,465-point plateau although its expected to rebound on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following a clear result in the U.S. presidential election. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SET finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource and service sectors.
For the day, the index dropped 14.25 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 1,467.42 after trading between 1,463.06 and 1,487.58. Volume was 20.293 billion shares worth 57.315 billion baht. There were 418 decliners and 111 gainers, with 134 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info retreated 1.44 percent, while Thailand Airport declined 1.59 percent, Asset World tumbled 3.17 percent, Banpu crashed 9.38 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.34 percent, Bangkok Expressway slid 1.27 percent, B. Grimm slumped 3.15 percent, BTS Group reduced 4.02 percent, CP All Public fell 1.92 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods surrendered 2.81 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 4.08 percent, Gulf weakened 2.64 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.49 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 2.60 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tanked 3.23 percent, PTT shed 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 2.67 percent, PTT Global Chemical dropped 0.94 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 4.76 percent, Siam Concrete stumbled 3.38 percent, Thai Oil was down 2.81 percent, True Corporation sank 0.81 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.10 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher and only accelerated as the day progressed, ending at session highs.
The Dow surged 1,508.05 points or 3.57 percent to finish at 43,729.93, while the NASDAQ rallied 544.29 points or 2.95 percent to close at 18,983.46 and the S&P 500 spiked 146.28 points or 2.53 percent to end at 5,929.04.
The extended rally on Wall Street came after former President Trump was declared the winner in the presidential election versus Vice President Kamala Harris.
The decisive victory helped avoid the uncertainty that would be created by a prolonged vote counting process and potential legal challenges.
Traders will turn their attention to the Federal Reserve, which is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision later today. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, but the accompanying statement could the impact the outlook for future rate cuts.
Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. rose more than expected last week, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed down $0.30 or 0.42 percent at $71.69 a barrel.