Thai shares snapped a 10-day streak of gains to end modestly lower yesterday as weaker-than-estimated Chinese trade and inflation data stoked concern over the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.
The SET index opened down on Monday and headed further south to the day's trough of 1,338.48 points before buying in the final hour of trading session paired some losses to close the market at 1,349.05 points or a decline of 0.44% in moderate trade worth of 30.8 billion baht.
Foreign investors continued buying Thai shares yesterday but at slow pace of 132 million baht.
Thai shares have risen by almost 4% so far this year.
The baht also weakened against the greenback to 32.36/32.40 yesterday from 32.26/32.28 last Friday.
Disappointing trade data in China took the hardest blow on East Asian stock markets, which fell around 0.5 points or more than 3% yesterday.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped by 1.1% to 137.63 points in Tokyo, with more than three shares falling for each that rose. The gauge posted its fourth weekly advance last week, the longest such streak since last September. Reports showed Chinese exports slid the most last month since 2009, while Japan’s GDP expanded less than estimated in the fourth quarter, Bloomberg data showed.
"China's trade deficit clouds regional stock markets, but potential positive factors are lying ahead and helps limit downside," said Prakit Siriwattanagase, a strategist and technical analyst at Asia Plus Securities.
He said potential revocation of the state of emergency by the caretaker government and a rate cut by the Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee tomorrow are bolstering the local stock market's sentiment.
Mr Prakit tipped support at 1,338 points and resistance at 1,368.
Thanachart Securities analyst Adisak Phupiphathirungul said the upside gain is now more than the downside as the overall sentiment has improved after the anti-government protesters called off the Bangkok shutdown campaign.
"The market's downward correction is justified as the market has risen for several days," he said.
''Investors are concerned growth might disappoint following China’s exports and Japan’s GDP data,'' said Daphne Roth, the Singapore-based head of Asian equity research at ABN Amro Private Banking. ''Following the recent rally, we've taken some money off the table. We're still positive on Japan, as the government is likely to stimulate the economy after the consumer tax hike next month.''