The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 15 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,195-point plateau and it's tipped to take further damage again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian is weak on disappointing earnings news, rising coronavirus cases and pre-election volatility in the United States. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and energy producers.
For the day, the index shed 6.69 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 1,194.95. Volume was 19.520 billion shares worth 52.725 billion baht. There were 939 decliners and 521 gainers, with 431 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info skidded 1.15 percent, while Thailand Airport advanced 0.98 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 1.02 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical shed 0.57 percent, BTS Group added 0.56 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 0.98 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.33 percent, Krung Thai Bank declined 1.14 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 0.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.62 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tanked 2.26 percent, Siam Concrete tumbled 2.31 percent, TMB Bank sank 2.41 percent and PTT, Asset World and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks opened lower on Friday and moved deeper into the red as the day progressed, cutting into gains from the previous session.
The Dow shed 157.50 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 26,501.60, while the NASDAQ plunged 274.01 points or 2.45 percent to end at 10,911.59 and the S&P 500 sank 40.15 points or 1.21 percent to close at 3,269.96. For the week, the Dow shed 6.5 percent, the NASDAQ lost 5.5 percent and the S&P fell 5.6 percent.
The sharp pullback on Wall Street reflected a negative reaction to earnings news from a number of big-name tech companies, including Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN) and Twitter (TWTR).
Lingering concerns about the recent spike in coronavirus cases also weighed on Wall Street along with uncertainty about this week's presidential election.
In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal income rebounded more than anticipated in September, while the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment improved slightly more than estimated in October.
Crude oil prices sank again on Friday, extending the steep drop seen in the two previous sessions on continued concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid a renewed spike in coronavirus cases. Crude for December delivery fell $0.38 to a five-month low of $35.79 a barrel.
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