Ahead of Tuesday's holiday for Chakri Day, the Thai stock market had ended the modest two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 10 points or 0.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just shy of the 1,580-point plateau and it figures to remain in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is mixed and fairly flat amid a lack of strong catalysts. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SET finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and energy producers.
For the day, the index dropped 16.61 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 1m579.66 after trading between 1,575.56 and 1,601.24. Volume was 31.341 billion shares worth 81.506 billion baht. There were 1,449 decliners and 339 gainers, with 238 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info skidded 1.15 percent, while Thailand Airport tanked 2.15 percent, Asset World dropped 0.99 percent, Bangkok Asset Management shed 0.47 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.17 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway declined 1.74 percent, BTS Group tumbled 2.08 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.85 percent, Gulf lost 0.75 percent, Kasikornbank surrendered 1.36 percent, Krung Thai Bank fell 0.83 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slid 1.55 percent, PTT dipped 1.23 percent, PTT Exploration and Production was down 1.72 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 2.39 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.53 percent, Siam Commercial Bank slipped 1.33 percent, Siam Concrete eased 0.75 percent and TMB Bank gave away 0.81 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as the major averages opened lower but then spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing slightly in the red.
The Dow shed 96.95 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 33,430.24, while the NASDAQ dipped 7.21 points or 0.05 percent to end at 13,698.38 and the S&P 500 eased 3.97 points or 0.10 percent to close at 4,073.94.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off news the International Monetary Fund raised its global growth projections for this year and next, citing huge fiscal stimulus in some big economies and a vaccine-driven recovery in the future.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday, riding a weaker U.S. dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.68 or 1.2 percent at $59.33 a barrel.
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