Thai share prices close weaker

Thai share prices closed 0.16 percent lower on Wednesday in line with a sharp fall on Wall Street, with investors staying on the sidelines ahead of the new year, dealers said. They said the market also declined on profit-taking of blue chips including energy stocks.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index fell 1.11 points to 705.36 and the blue chip SET 50 index lost 1.68 points to 496.65. Gainers outnumbered losers 158 to 128 with 135 stocks unchanged on turnover of 2.2 billion shares worth 9.9 billion baht (243 million dollars) traded.
The Thai baht closed at 40.98-41.00 to the dollar on Wednesday, against 40.94-96 to the dollar on Tuesday. Against the euro, the Thai currency stood at 48.79-84, compared with Tuesday's 48.54-59.
"The Thai market was under pressure mainly due to the Wall Street factor," said Rakpong Chaisuparakul, a security strategist at KGI Securities. In New York Tuesday, the Dow industrials slumped 105.50 points to close at 10,777.77, marking its worst one-day point loss in two months.
"Also we have few foreign investors participating in the market ahead of the new year holiday," Rakpong said.
He said investors hardly reacted to Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI)'s announcement that it would seek a court permission to exit its rehabilitation scheme, as the move was already expected.
Thai Petrochemical is undergoing a state-led restructuring after collapsing during the 1997 Asian financial crisis with debts mounting to 2.7 billion dollars, becoming Thailand's biggest corporate defaulter.
The company will file a petition with the Central Bankruptcy Court on Thursday to get a legal permission to exit the restructuring. If the court permits, TPI could leave the program as early as March 2006.
Among major shares, Thailand's top energy firm PTT, which holds a 30-percent stake in TPI, fell 2.00 to 224 while its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production dropped 4.00 to 472.00. Thai Oil slipped 0.50 to 63.00.
Thailand's biggest commercial lender, Bangkok Bank, was unchanged at 105.00 and Siam Commercial Bank, the third largest lender, also traded flat at 51.50. Thai Airways rose 0.25 to 42.75.