The Thai stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 55 points or 3.8 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,490-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the red again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian is fraught with uncertainty after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Markets were mostly higher before this attack but now are likely to open lower.
The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the food and cement stocks were offset by support from the financials and energy producers.
For the day, the index lost 14.29 points or 0.95 percent to finish at 1,492.36 after trading between 1,485.79 and 1,514.89. Volume was 35.564 billion shares worth 142.327 billion baht. There were 969 decliners and 679 gainers, with 281 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.56 percent, while Thailand Airport tumbled 1.94 percent, Asset World shed 0.42 percent, Bangkok Asset Management retreated 1.80 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.83 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical skidded 1.42 percent, Bangkok Expressway declined 1.19 percent, BTS Group sank 1.57 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.56 percent, Gulf plunged 3.36 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 2.19 percent, Krung Thai Bank gained 0.88 percent, PTT accelerated 1.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production surged 4.50 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 0.84 percent, Siam Commercial Bank climbed 0.86 percent, Siam Concrete lost 0.79 percent and TMB Bank rallied 2.68 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is unsettled, to put it kindly. The major averages were higher for much of the day but turned lower in the wake of the chaos in Washington to end mixed.
The Dow soared 437.80 points or 1.44 percent to finish at 30,829.40, while the NASDAQ sank 78.17 points or 0.61 percent to end at 12,740.79 and the S&P perked 21.28 points or 0.57 percent to close at 3,748.28.
Stocks moved to the downside going into the close of trading as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. capitol building as lawmakers began the process of certifying President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
Support earlier in the day came as traders reacted to the results of the highly anticipated Georgia runoff elections on Tuesday. Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock both won, giving control of the senate to the Democrats.
Democratic control of the House, Senate and White House is seen as a positive for cyclical stocks due to the likelihood of additional fiscal stimulus. But the NASDAQ closed lower as tech stocks could be hurt by the shift into cyclical stocks and higher taxes.
Traders largely shrugged off a report from payroll processor ADP showing an unexpected drop in private sector employment in the U.S. last month.
Closer to home, Thailand will see December results for its consumer confidence index later today; in November, the index score was 52.4.
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