Friday, October 10, 2008

Thai Stock Exchange drops by 9.6 percent

Today, Thailand's share prices plummeted 9.6 percent, prompting regulators to close the market for 30 minutes after midday trading when share values had dropped more than 10 per cent. All this happened in just a few minutes.

Stock Exchange of Thailand

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index slipped to 449.91 shortly after mid-day break, which is a drop of 50.08 points or 10.02%, and the panic sell off prompted authorities to close the market for 30 minutes in keeping with the bourse's regulations.

Thailand's stock market regulators enforced a circuit-breaker on the market, and the SET resumed trading after 30 minutes. This is the first time in two years that the SET has used a circuit breaker.

At the end of the day, the market was off by 48.03 points or just under 10 per cent, as the SET index fell from 499.89 to 451.96.

Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)

The Wall Street crash is the major factor for the dip, but Thailand's political instability and the tear gas incident has brought things down further.

Asian stocks plummeted after the Dow Jones dived below 8,600 for the first time since 2003, and Japan's Nikkei was down more than 10 per cent.

Also today, The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) petitioned the Constitution Court to dissolve the People Power Party (PPP) for election fraud.

What's going to happen on Monday? Will the SET go down further?

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