The Thai stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slipping more than 7 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,535-point plateau and it's likely to remain stuck in neutral again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian is cautious as the debt ceiling situation looks to enter the home stretch. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.
The SET finished slightly lower on Wednesday as losses from the industrial and energy sectors were mitigated by support from the food, tech and financial shares.
For the day, the index eased 1.27 points or 0.08 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,533.54 after trading as low as 1,521.33. Volume was 15.334 billion shares worth 90.645 billion baht.
Among the actives, Advanced Info slid 0.47 percent, while Banpu gained 0.61 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway declined 1.23 percent, B. Grimm stumbled 1.32 percent, BTS Group sank 0.70 percent, CP All Public rose 0.39 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.50 percent, Energy Absolute jumped 1.96 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.38 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 1.04 percent, Krung Thai Card plunged 3.32 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slumped 0.99 percent, PTT weakened 2.44 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plummeted 2.79 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.76 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 1.88 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.49 percent, Siam Concrete surrendered 1.85 percent, Thai Oil was down 2.81 percent, True Corporation strengthened 1.48 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.25 percent and Bangkok Bank, Asset World, Thailand Airport and Gulf were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened solidly lower on Wednesday, making back some of the ground as the day progressed but still ending firmly in the red.
The Dow dropped 134.51 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 32,908.27, while the NASDAQ shed 82.14 points or 0.63 percent to close at 12,935.29 and the S&P 500 slumped 25.69 points or 0.61 percent to end at 4,179.83.
The weakness on Wall Street came as traders kept a close eye on developments regarding the bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avoid potentially disastrous default. The debt bill, which advanced out of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, is set to be voted on in the House any time now.
In economic news, the Labor Department said that job openings rose to 10.1 million in April from a revised 9.7 million in March. Economists had expected job openings to fall to 9.4 million.
Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday as worries about fuel demand resurfaced, while a stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July slumped $1.37 or 2 percent at $68.09 a barrel.
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