The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sliding almost 25 points 1.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,265-point plateau and the losses figure to accelerate on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft with technology stocks expected to continue their roller coaster ride, this time to the downside. A rising number of coronavirus cases adds to the negative sentiment. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SET finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.
For the day, the index dipped 3.62 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 1,264.01 after trading between 1m260.64 and 1,272.59. Volume was 17.521 billion shares worth 50.707 billion baht. There were 771 decliners and 654 gainers, with 474 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Bangkok Bank tumbled 1.79 percent, while Bangkok Expressway added 0.57 percent, Kasikornbank plunged 2.94 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 1.10 percent, PTT tanked 2.19 percent, PTT Exploration and Production sank 2.65 percent, PTT Global Chemical plummeted 4.94 percent, Sawad surged 3.06 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.39 percent, Siam Concrete gained 0.30 percent, TMB Bank soared 2.27 percent and Advanced Info, Thailand Airport, Asset World, Bangkok Dusit Medical, BTS Group and Charoen Pokphand Foods all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks moved sharply lower on Wednesday, wiping out gains from the previous session as the markets fell to a one-month closing low.
The Dow tumbled 525.05 points or 1.92 percent to finish at 26,763.13, while the NASDAQ plummeted 330.65 points or 3.02 percent to end at 10,632.99 and the S&P 500 dropped 78.65 points or 2.37 percent to close at 3,236.92.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid renewed weakness among technology stocks, as reflected by the particularly steep drop by the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Big-name tech companies like Netflix (NFLX), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) all showed significant moves to the downside.
Concerns about surging coronavirus cases in certain parts of the world may also have weighed on the markets even as President Donald Trump indicated the U.S. would not follow the U.K.'s lead and implement a second round of lockdowns.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, continuing to testify before Congress for the second day, said the U.S. Congress and the Federal Reserve both need to "stay with it" in working to bolster the economic recovery.
Crude oil futures settled higher Wednesday after data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. But the upside was capped by worries about the energy demand outlook amid a continued surge in coronavirus cases. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for November ended higher by $0.13 or 0.3 percent at $39.93 a barrel.
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