Southeast Asia stocks: Thai shares plunge amid election concerns; PHL up on inflows

BANGKOK – Thai stocks suffered their biggest loss since September 2011 on Thursday as escalating domestic protests against Feb. 2 election triggered heavy sell-offs in large caps while Philippine stocks rallied on their first trading day of 2014 due to fund inflows.

 

Thai SET index closed down 5.2 percent at 1,230.77, the lowest close since August 2012, with market players loading off shares after the benchmark sliding below key technical

support of 1,260.

 

Among bottom performers, shares of airport operator Airports of Thailand Pcl shed 7.6 percent, while shares of Siam Commercial Bank Pcl dropped 8.4 percent.

 

Technical indicators pointed to a further slide in the main index to 1,200 level, with market concerns remaining over the ongoing political problems, said Teerasak Tanavarakul, an

analyst at CIMB Securities.

 

Anti-government protesters have planned a mass rally to shut down Bangkok from Jan. 13, calling for national reform to precede the election while security agencies were considering declaring a state of emergency to deal with the protest.

 

Thai baht lost for a 10th straight day against the dollar. 

 

Philippine index climbed 1.6 percent to 5,984.26, the highest close since Dec. 9, led by a 7.4 percent jump in shares of First Gen Corp. The Philippine bourse reported a net foreign buying of P395.7 million ($8.9 million).

 

Other markets ended mixed, with profit booking weighing on Malaysia and Vietnam, the region's outperformers last year. – Reuters