The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, falling more than 201p1ints or 0.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,780-point plateau although it may find traction on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is unclear, with concerns over interest rates tempered by support from crude oil prices. The European markets were down, and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SET finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.
For the day, the index shed 8.68 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 1,779.52 after trading between 1,772.35 and 1,787.00. Volume was 12.475 billion shares worth 65.018 billion baht. There were 848 decliners and 430 gainers, with 469 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.48 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.35 percent, Banpu skidded 1.55 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.26 percent, Bangkok Medical lost 0.42 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.66 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods spiked 2.97 percent, Kasikornbank tumbled 2.31 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 2.17 percent, PTT fell 0.86 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plummeted 2.90 percent, PTT Global Chemical retreated 1.02 percent, Siam Commercial Bank declined 1.88 percent and Siam Concrete was down 0.84 percent.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as stocks showed a lack of direction on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing mixed.
The NASDAQ eased 3.62 points or 0.05 percent to 7,003.74, while the Dow rose 59.70 points or 0.25 percent to 24,083.83 and the S&P added 4.84 points or 0.18 percent to 2,639.40.
The choppy trading reflected uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates as rising inflation may lead the Federal Reserve to hike rates faster than expected.
Decent earnings news offered support to the markets as aerospace giant Boeing (BA), Texas Instruments (TXN) and Twitter (TWTR) all beat the street.
Crude oil futures edged higher Wednesday despite a significant build in U.S. oil inventories. June WTI oil gained 35 cents or 0.5 percent to settle at $68.05/bbl.
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