Thai Shares May Open Under Water On Monday

The Thai stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day slide in which it had given up more than 20 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just shy of the 1,260-point plateau and it’s likely to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain amidst geopolitical concerns in South America. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the somewhat overbought Asian bourses are expected to open in mixed fashion.

The SET finished modestly higher last week following gains from the finance, resource and technology companies.

For the day, the index added 5.64 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 1,259.67 after trading between 1,251.35 and 1,260.47. Volume was 5.328 billion shares worth 32.547 billion baht. There were 291 gainers and 148 decliners, with 217 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.32 percent, while Thailand Airport was down 0.93 percent, Banpu lost 0.81 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.59 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slipped 0.52 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.90 percent, B. Grimm contracted 0.70 percent, BTS Group gathered 1.79 percent, CP All Public declined 0.57 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.46 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 0.74 percent, Gulf expanded 0.60 percent, Kasikornbank gained 0.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank improved 0.89 percent, Krung Thai Card sank 0.94 percent, PTT Oil & Retail vaulted 2.31 percent, PTT accelerated 1.59 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rallied 1.35 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 0.96 percent, SCG Packaging shed 0.58 percent, Siam Commercial Bank climbed 1.09 percent, Siam Concrete plunged 3.17 percent, Thai Oil soared 2.13 percent, True Corporation increased 0.93 percent, TTB Bank dropped 0.98 percent and Asset World was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly upbeat as the major averages spent most of Friday’s session hugging the line for much of the day before finishing mostly in the green.

The Dow climbed 319.09 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 48,382.39, while the NASDAQ dipped 6.37 points or 0.03 percent to close at 23,235.63 and the S&P 500 added12.97 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,858.47.

For the week, the NASDAQ dropped 1.5 percent, the S&P sank 1.0 percent and the Dow lost 0.7 percent.

The lackluster performance by the broader markets came as some traders remained away from their desks following the New Year’s Day holiday on Thursday.

Geopolitical concerns may weigh on sentiment after the U.S. carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela. That country’s leader, President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, had been captured and flown out of Venezuela.

Crude oil prices ticked lower on Friday ahead of Sunday’s OPEC meeting, with West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery dipping $0.12 or 0.2 percent to $57.30. On Sunday, OPEC decided to keep output levels unchanged, as expected. For 2025, crude fell almost 20 percent.