Organization: Central Michigan University
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Thu, 19 Nov 1992 10:53:55 EST
From:         Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      TH: Investors blast govt inaction

=======================  Forwarded  Message  ===========================
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 00:43:46+0700
From: Kamol Hengkietisak <kamol@ipied.tu.ac.th>
Subject: Bangkok Post Nov 19: Investors blast govt's inaction

INVESTORS in the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday protested
against an alleged failure by SET's top executives to take any
action to prevent the plunge in prices when news broke of moves to
arrest Sia Song.

In the morning session of trading, the Bangkok Bank of Commerce
(BBC) shares were suspended by the SET at the request of the
Securities Exchange Commission.

Many investors resented the SET's imposing of an SP (suspension)
sign on BBC shares and attributed this to inefficient SET measures
to counter stock manipulation.

One investor said the SET had let speculation in a certain stock
occur for a few months by not taking any action. Measures were
finally taken after many investors had bought those shares and
faced a loss because of rumours of action by the authorities.

He said that in examining stock manipulation the SET should from
time to time let the public know the extent of the practice. The
SET president should inform investors of the situation.

Some investors said the SET was too late in acting and claimed the
SET has no clear measures to resolve such problems. The SET
president should therefore resign.

The SP sign on BBC stock and news from the SEC about moves to
arrest Song Watcharasriroj caused many investors to panic. They
sold out many stocks, with the SET index plunging 38.23 to close
at 853.26 points for the first trading session.

In the afternoon, the market opened with a further fall, reaching
its lowest point for the day, a drop of 57.14 at 2:41 p.m.

After an announcement by Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanhaeminda
that the Finance Ministry and the private sector will set up a
fund to prop the market, the index rebounded to close at 868.04,
an overall fall for the day of 23.45. The index ended lower in all
sectors.

The rebound in the afternoon was partly because of buying by
people targetting shares with good fundamentals.

Adkinson Securities Co research manager Chaiwat Ek-rojrattana
blamed the fall on panic selling. The situation has implications
for brokerage firms which lent funds to Sia Song's group for
shares trading.

He said the losses amount to at least 5-6,000 million baht. Even
though the Thai economy is in good condition and the Finance
Ministry is helping, the index will fall further because of the
effect on the thinking of investors.

The rebound in the index before the market closed was due to
buying pressure from foreign investors, some brokers and mutual
fund companies.

Siam City Credit Finance and Securities manager of the stock
analysts' division Porntip Kruwongpaiboon agrees with Mr Chaiwat
on the cause of the losses.

She said the fall is mainly in speculative shares and in the short
term the index has opportunities to rebound.
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