The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 40 points or 3.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand finished just below the 1,155-point plateau, and now traders are looking for another soft start for the market when it opens on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains soft thanks to ongoing debt concerns in Europe. Moody's downgraded 16 Spanish banks Friday, citing rising loan defaults, a renewed recession in Spain, restricted funding access and the reduced ability of the Spanish government to support lenders. In addition, the Bank of Spain said the country's bad loans increased further in March to the highest bad debt ratio since 1994. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly in the red, and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SET finished sharply lower on Friday following heavy damage to the financial shares and the energy producers.
For the day, the index plummeted 19.12 points or 1.63 percent to finish at 1,154.44 after trading between 1,148.81 and 1,160.56. Volume was 4.714 billion shares worth 28.637 billion baht. There were 394 decliners and 148 gainers, with 102 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the decliners, energy giant PTT was down 1.20 percent, while PTT Global Chemicals plummeted 4.69 percent, coal miner Banpu retreated 2.73 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 2.07 percent, Kasikornbank lost 0.98 percent and Bangkok Bank eased 0.55 percent.
The lead from Wall Street continues to provide little encouragement as stocks showed another notable move to the downside on Friday after posting a lack of direction in morning trade. The pullback came despite a lack of major catalysts, with the drop reflecting the recent downward momentum for the markets as traders were reluctant to hold positions going into the weekend.
Lingering concerns about the financial situation in Europe continued to weigh on the markets, with the ongoing political uncertainty in Greece adding to worries about the outlook for the eurozone.
In addition, the Bank of Spain said the country's bad loans increased further in March. About 8.37 percent of loans held by banks in March were unpaid for more than three months. That compares to 8.3 percent in February. This was the highest bad debt ratio since 1994.
Social networking giant Facebook attracted a lot of attention after making its debut on the NASDAQ in late morning trading. Technical issues delayed the opening by about 30 minutes. After opening notably higher, shares of Facebook fluctuated over the course of the session, eventually ending the day up by just 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, shares of Gap (GPS) fell by 2.3 percent even though the apparel retailer reported better than expected first quarter results. The company also raised its full-year earnings guidance. Chip maker Marvell Technology (MRVL) also ended the day in the red despite reporting better than expected first quarter results.
The major averages also ended Friday firmly in negative territory, at their worst closing levels in four months. The Dow fell 73.11 points or 0.6 percent to finish at 12,369.38, while the NASDAQ plunged 34.90 points or 1.2 percent to end at 2,778.79 and the S&P 500 slid 9.64 points or 0.7 percent to 1,295.22. With the losses, the averages all fell sharply for the week as the Dow dropped by 3.5 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 tumbled by 5.3 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.
In economic news, Thailand is on Monday scheduled to release gross domestic product numbers for the first quarter of 2012. GDP is expected to rise 8.6 percent on quarter but fall 3.1 percent on year. That follows the 10.7 percent quarterly plunge and the 9.0 percent annual contraction in the fourth quarter of 2011.
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