Ahead of Monday's holiday for Queen Sirikit's birthday, the Thai stock market had moved lower in three straight sessions - surrendering more than 20 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,650-point plateau and it's predicted to open in the red again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on continuing concerns over the trade dispute between the United States and China. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and energy producers.
For the day, the index lost 14.48 points or 0.87 percent to finish at 1,650.64 after trading between 1,649.52 and 1,675.44. Volume was 18.166 billion shares worth 59.240 billion baht. There were 1,213 decliners and 394 gainers, with 367 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info advanced 0.91 percent, while Thailand Airport tumbled 1.76 percent, Banpu skidded 1.53 percent, Bangkok Bank soared 2.07 percent, Bangkok Medical dropped 1.20 percent, Bangkok Expressway sank 0.91 percent, PTT Exploration and Production retreated 1.59 percent, PTT Global Chemical fell 0.93 percent, Siam Commercial Bank declined 1.14 percent, TMB Bank plummeted 5.03 percent and Siam Concrete, PTT, all Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, BTS Group and Charoen Pokphand Foods were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened sharply lower on Monday and continued to head south throughout the day, extending last week's losses.
The Dow shed 391.00 points or 1.49 percent to 25,896.44, while the NASDAQ lost 95.73 points or 1.20 percent to 7,863.41 and the S&P 500 fell 35.96 points or 1.23 percent to 2,882.69.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid worries about a prolonged trade war between the U.S. and China after President Donald Trump recently indicated he feels no sense of urgency to resolve the dispute.
Concerns about the impact of increasingly violent protests in Hong Kong also weighed on stocks, with the Hong Kong International Airport canceling all departing flights due to the disruption caused by protesters.
The geopolitical concerns increased the appeal of safe haven assets like bonds, resulting in a steep drop in U.S. treasury yields. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note tumbled to its lowest closing level in almost three years.
Crude oil prices were higher Monday on speculation production cuts by OPEC and fewer shipments from Saudi Arabia will outweigh concerns about near term energy demand outlook. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for September ended up $0.43 or 0.8 percent at $54.93 a barrel.
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