The Thai stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one session after it had halted the three-day slide in which it had fallen more than 30 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand settled just shy of the 1,470-point plateau, and the market is looking at another soft start again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is fraught with concern over the health of the Chinese stock market, which has plummeted in recent weeks despite a series of market-stabilizing measures by authorities. Uncertainty regarding the Greek debt situation adds to the negative sentiment. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down, and the Asian markets also figure to open in the red.
The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.
For the day, the index slipped 13.52 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 1,470.25 after trading between 1,466.74 and 1,478.97. Volume was 7.402 billion shares worth 37.627 billion baht. There were 641 decliners and 258 gainers, with 190 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, coal miner Banpu shed 1.20 percent, while Bangkok Bank lost 1.43 percent, Kasikornbank eased 0.27 percent, energy giant PTT fell 2.58 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 3.74 percent, PTT Global Chemical retreated 1.12 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tumbled 1.98 percent and Siam Concrete slipped 1.55 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on Wednesday after rebounding in the previous session.
The Dow tumbled 261.49 points or 1.5 percent to 17,515.42, while the NASDAQ plunged 87.70 points or 1.8 percent to 4,909.76 and the S&P 500 plummeted 34.65 points or 1.7 percent to 2,046.69.
The sell-off came as Chinese stocks extended their recent steep decline. Almost half of China's roughly 2,800 listed firms announced trading halts as increasing signs of deleveraging drove down stocks across the board. There were fears that a prolonged slump would cause systematic risk for the country's financial system.
Traders also kept an eye on the latest developments regarding the Greek debt crisis after European leaders set Sunday as the final deadline for Greece to reach an agreement on a new bailout.
Some additional negative sentiment was generated by news that the New York Stock Exchange temporarily suspended trading in all symbols due to an internal technical issue.
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