SET falls slightly amid concern over virus second wave

In the morning session, a stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index to fluctuate between 1,345 and 1,365.

"The market gained positive sentiment from progress in Covid-19 vaccine research and the rising crude oil price," the analyst said.

The price of crude oil rose to over US$41 per barrel after US stored crude oil dropped by 7.5 million barrels and Opec+ decided to cut production from 9.7 million barrels to 7.7 million barrels per day.

"However, the index is under pressure from uncertainty over a second wave of Covid-19 in Thailand and the increasing number of new daily cases in the US which reached 70,000 recently," the analyst added.

The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were STGT, PTL, CPF, PTT, CPALL, OSP, DTAC, ADVANC, EA and GULF.

As of 4.30pm, the price of crude oil had dropped by US$0.51 or 1.24 per cent to $40.69 per barrel, while gold dropped by $5.40 or 0.30 per cent, to $1,808.40 per ounce.

Asian indices were sliding downwards:

Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 22,770.36, down 175.14 points, or 0.76 per cent.

China’s Shang Hai SE Composite Index closed at 3,210.10, down 151.21 points, or 4.50 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 12,996.34, down 737.79 points, or 5.37 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 24,970.69, down 510.89 points, or 2.00 per cent.

South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,183.76, down 18.12 points, or 0.82 per cent.

Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 12,157.74, down 45.11 points, or 0.37 per cent.