Widespread Bangkok protests to drive Samak administration out

Text Size :Small | Medium |Large

เอกสารแนบ

View VDO Clip

SET Today

Widespread Bangkok protests to drive Samak administration out
Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008

BUSINESS NEWS:

Widespread Bangkok protests to drive Samak administration out

Thousands of anti-government protesters have besieged key state offices and broadcaster in hopes of pressuring for the resignation of the People Power Party-led government.

More widespread protests took off this morning in the capital at state-run television NBT several ministries and Government House just when the months-long rally at Bangkok’s Makkawan Bridge continued.

Thousands of protesters have stormed and driven NBT journalists out of their studios before taking control of the government-run broadcaster.

Regular programming has been interrupted before broadcast was resumed from NBT mobile unit.

However protesters managed to locate Bangkok’s mobile unit and disrupt its broadcast again before signals returned to TV screen from NBT station in Songkhla.

Meanwhile another group of demonstrators broke into Government House compound and occupied its lawn with some declaring a victory over the Samak Sundaravej administration.

At the same time, protesters also occupied compounds at the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, Transport and Education.

And at around 3 pm, PM Samak appeared on the live broadcast issuing his last warning for protesters to disperse before authorities enforce the laws to restore peace and social order.

He stated the Cabinet has agreed to appoint Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Kowit Wattana to take charge of restoring normally while urging supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy to end their moves before his patience runs out.

Previously, Royal Army Commander-in-Chief, Anupong Paochinda, told reporters the military would not intervene to restore order and insisted that the army would not launch a coup.

***************************************************

Board of Trade not worried but asks for timely, peacefully end

Thailand’s private sector is now pleading with the anti-government protesters and the People Power Party-led administration to sit down and flatten their differences instead of continuing with the confrontation.

The Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand Vice chairman, Dusit Nontanakorn, said he personally wishes that both the People’s Alliance for Democracy and the government would turn to each other to seek a peaceful end to their differences.

The PAD today launched its mobile rally strategy with the besiegement of several major government offices and the blockades of key roads in Bangkok and certain national highways to pressure the Samak Sundaravej government to resign.

Dusit admitted that a prolonged confrontation might not hurt the whole local economy as severely as many are worried considering a continued improvement in business and consumer confidence in recent months as well as a historic surge in Thai exports in July.

However, he pleaded with both the PAD and the government to put a stop to the conflict to help develop and strengthen the country and its economy further instead.

***************************************************

SET President fears prolonged rallies to hurt investment

The Thai Stock Exchange President warns prolonged anti-government protests could hurt local investment dearly although today’s market loss remained limited.

Stock Exchange of Thailand President, Patareeya Benjapolchai, conceded that trading on the Thai market has plummeted significantly due to worries over the effects of the prolonged anti-government protests.

Patareeya stated if the demonstrations do not end soon local investment would be inevitably hit hard.

However, she maintained that as investors have been aware of today’s protests before Tuesday’s opening bell market losses have been quite limited.

The SET President added with local stock prices quite low the introduction of the planned 8.25-billion-baht matching fund might be brought forward from the original schedule in October.

In addition, she stated that the SET would not revise this year’s target of new listings even though local political turmoil still continues.

In March, SET Chairman, Pakorn Malakul na Ayudhya, already lowered the 2008 listing target from no fewer than 50 companies to a minimum of 30 companies due to the Finance Ministry-approved extension of tax privileges for newly-listed firms.

SET MONITOR:

Thailand’s main stock index fell further but still higher than the day’s low.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand composite index lost 9 points at 668.9 in light trade of 9 billion baht or some 265 million dollars.

Local institutions posted the biggest net sell of 702 million baht which is about 20.5 million dollars followed by foreign investors of 375 million baht or nearly 11 million dollars.

Retail investors were the only net buyer of some one billion baht that’s approximately 31.5 million dollars.

The local stock market went down more than 1% in thin trade following losses on Wall Street overnight and the widespread anti-government rallies across Bangkok on Tuesday.

But today’s losses were considered limited after the index fell to the day’s low of 660.9.

Index Performance
	Last	Change	%Change	High	Low	Volume ('000 Shares)	Value (M.Baht)
SET Index	668.92	-9.28	-1.37	670.16	660.96	1,974,778	9,087.26
SET100 Index	1,017.15	-14.24	-1.38	1,018.55	1,002.92	1,097,991	7,624.64
SET50 Index	472.48	-6.35	-1.33	472.86	465.57	346,638	6,558.37
FSTHL	780.68	-11.07	-1.40	-	-	-	-
mai Index	236.47	-3.10	-1.29	238.10	235.77	8,182	29.84
Source: The Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Net Buy/Sell
Investor Type	Buy (M.Baht)	%	Sell (M.Baht)	%	Net (M.Baht)
Local Institutions	1,931.93	21.19%	2,634.65	28.90%	-702.73 M
Foreign Institutions	1,891.26	20.74%	2,266.26	24.86%	-375.00 M
Retail Investors	5,293.92	58.07%	4,216.20	46.24%	1,077.72 M
Source: KGI Securities (Thailand) PLC.

SET SPOTLIGHT:

EMC price rises following 10% share buy-back plan Sept’08 – Mar’09

EMC Public saw its price rise by nearly 4% this morning to 27 satang a share after its Board of Directors resolved to buy back no more than 10% of its stocks from the market with a budget of 192 million baht.

The buy-back period is set from September 8th - March 7th 2009.

EMC informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand its planned share buy-back is intended to help restore the true price of its stocks and to improve its financial management.

At the closing bell, EMC share however finished flat at 26 satang apiece.

***************************************************

DRT surges to near 2-wk high on the back of THB0.15/share interim dividend payment plan

Share prices of Diamond Roofing Tiles surged to near its two-week high with almost 1% gain on Tuesday morning following the Board of Directors’ approval of the 15-satang per-share interim dividend payment plan.

The payout date is set on September 19th.

And its price settled at this near-two-week high of 2.34 baht per share.

SET HILIGHT:

EGCO: Electricity Generating
XD @ THB2.50 Payout 11 Sept 08

AYUD: Ayudhya Insurance
XD @ THB0.65 Payout 12 Sept 08

SET DATEBOOK:

27 Aug 2008: Bank of Thailand Monetary Policy Committee Meeting

29 Aug 2008: Bank of Thailand Release of July Economic Data

SET Today: Weekdays 6:30 pm

Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 (Archive on Tuesday, September 02, 2008)
Posted by suchitra Contributed by host

รายการย้อนหลัง

แสดงความคิดเห็นเพิ่มเติม