January 16, 2008
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai share prices closed 0.77 percent lower on Wednesday following a tumble on Wall Street that heightened fears of a possible recession in the United States, dealers said.
They said the negative sentiment spread across regional markets and punished benchmarks from Tokyo to Hong Kong and Singapore.
Uncertainty in Thailand's domestic politics also remained a key factor, with the Supreme Court set to rule Friday on major election complaints against the People Power Party.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index fell 5.99 points to 773.80 and the blue-chip SET-50 lost 4.05 points to 558.83.
Losers led gainers 282 to 76, with 86 stocks unchanged on turnover of 1.68 billion shares worth 21.09 billion baht (639.18 million dollars).
The Thai baht traded at 33.12-14 against the dollar, compared to 33.13-15 Tuesday. Against the euro, the Thai unit was quoted at 49.05-10 from 49.17-19.
"The market was down as expected. Similar to other regional markets, it was chiefly affected by falling share prices in the US market, which heightened fears over a possible slowdown in the US economy caused by the subprime mortgage crisis," said Sukit Udomsirikul, head of research at Siam City Securities.
He said apart from fears over the US economy, political uncertainty in Thailand continued to affect the domestic market as investors wait to see what the new government will look like following last month's elections.
"Investors are waiting to see a more certain direction in Thai politics, particularly with the Supreme Court to rule on complaints against the PPP this Friday," Sukit said.
The People Power Party, which was set up by allies of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, won nearly half of the 480 seats in parliament in the December 23 polls, the first election since last year's coup ousting Thaksin.
But the Election Commission appointed by the military has opened dozens of vote fraud investigations that threaten the party's ability to form a coalition government.
Other complaints against PPP have been sent to the Supreme Court, which has been asked to invalidate the election results. The court is set to rule on two complaints against the PPP on Friday.
Thailand's biggest energy firm PTT lost 4.00 baht to 304.00 while its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production gained 3.00 to 154.00. Energy firm Banpu gained 8.00 to 386.00.
The kingdom's top lender Bangkok Bank lost 2.00 to 110.00.
Thai Airways International remained unchanged at 32.25, and Thailand's biggest mobile phone operator, Advanced Info Service, lost 4.50 to 93.00.
