The Thai stock market has finished lower now in five straight trading days, declining more than 30 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand finished just above the 1,045-point plateau, and now traders are expecting further softness when the market opens on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains broadly negative as markets continue to fret over the weak U.S. jobs data plus a fall in commodity prices. Oil and gold stocks figure to fall under pressure, along with properties and financials. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower, and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit - especially the ones that were off on Monday.
The SET finished sharply lower on Monday following heavy losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.
For the day, the index plunged 11.70 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 1,046.16 after trading between 1,043.82 and 1,055.58. Volume was 3.273 billion shares worth 18.474 billion baht. There were 340 decliners and 98 gainers, with 133 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the decliners, energy giant PTT was down 1.15 percent, while Bangkok Bank shed 1.89 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 2.73 percent and Kasikornbank fell 0.84 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests continued consolidation as stocks saw further downside on Monday after seeing significant weakness last week. Concerns about the outlook for the economy continued to weigh on the markets following last Friday's disappointing employment data.
While stocks initially showed a lack of direction, considerable selling pressure emerged over the day, as traders continued to worry about the implications of the weak jobs data. The monthly employment report released by the Labor Department last Friday showed much weaker than expected job growth in the month of May as well as an unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate.
The report, which came on the heels of the release of a series of disappointing economic reports, has led to concerns about a soft patch for the economy and the possibility of a double-dip recession. Additionally, with no major economic data released on Monday, the disappointing jobs report remained fresh in traders' minds.
In corporate news, shares of Apple (AAPL) closed lower on the day as the iPod and iPhone maker kicked off its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is on a medical leave of absence, received a standing ovation as he made an appearance at the conference's keynote address. Jobs unveiled Apple's new iCloud service as the company looks to climb on to the "cloud computing" bandwagon.
The major averages closed firmly in negative territory and once again set new two-month closing lows. The Dow fell 61.30 points or 0.5 percent to 12,089.96, the NASDAQ dropped 30.22 points or 1.1 percent to 2,702.56 and the S&P 500 slid 13.99 points or 1.1 percent to 1,286.17.
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