Thai shares jump on hopes for political breakthrough

Thai share prices closed 1.91 percent higher on Monday on hopes for a political breakthrough after a court nullified last month's controversial snap polls and ordered new elections, dealers said.
They said the market also got support from sharp regional gains sparked by a rally on Wall Street Friday where the main blue chip index hit six-year highs amid hopes the US Federal Reserve could soon call off its campaign of interest rate hikes.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index rose 14.69 points to 782.91 and the blue chip SET 50 index gained 11.72 points to 545.51.
Gainers outnumbered losers 261 to 106 and 89 stocks were unchanged with 3.5 billion shares traded worth 20.4 billion baht (545 million dollars).
The Thai baht closed Monday 37.49-51 to the dollar compared to Thursday's close at 37.81-83. The Thai financial markets were closed Friday due to a public holiday.
Against the euro, the Thai unit closed at 47.84-89 from Thursday's 47.54-60.
"Investors welcomed the court's decision. It is the best way to solve our political crisis," said Thanomsak Saharatcschai, a senior market analyst at Capital Nomura Securities.
The Constitutional Court ruled Monday that last month's controversial snap polls were unfair and ordered new elections.
Outgoing premier Thaksin Shinawatra called the April 2 elections in a bid to silence his critics accusing him of cronyism and abuse of power and demanding his resignation but the opposition boycotted the poll.
"Investors were happy with the court's decision because new elections will include opposition parties," Thanomsak said.
Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party won the polls with 56 percent of the vote but the boycott undermined his victory and forced him to step aside.
The court on Monday found that the April 2 date of the election was unfair and that the arrangement of polling stations had compromised the secrecy of the ballot, court spokesman Paiboon Varahapaitoon told reporters.
The complaint to the court - filed by a law lecturer and a Thai election watchdog - argued that the election date was set only 37 days after parliament was dissolved and had not given opposition parties enough time to organise campaigns.
Shares in Thailand's top energy firm PTT rose 4.00 to 266.00 baht and its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production gained 1.00 to 126.00.
Top lender Bangkok Bank increased 4.00 to 116.00 and the third-biggest bank, Kasikorn Bank added 3.00 to 68.50.
Thai Airways International was unchanged at 47.50.