Thailand shares likely to extend losses

Thai share prices are likely to extend losses next week on persistent fears over a global credit squeeze triggered by the US housing loan problem, dealers said Friday.
"The US housing crisis will continue to depress sentiment as we still don't know how serious this problem is," said Chai Chirasevenupraphand, a market strategist at Capital Nomura Securities. "We may see some buying on technical rebound, but it will be temporary. Investors will remain very worried over the sub-prime crisis," Chai said.
Apart from the US housing woes, the analyst said investors expect Thai voters to approve an army-backed constitution in the kingdom's first-ever referendum on Sunday. Shortly after last year's coup, the Thai military abandoned Thailand's 1997 constitution, which had been widely hailed as the most democratic the kingdom had ever known. Sunday's referendum is seen as a vote on the legitimacy of the coup in September 2006 that ousted elected premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is currently living in exile in London.