Thai market falls 2.5 per cent on local politics, US economy

Thai market falls 2.5 per cent on local politics, US economy Bangkok - Thai shares tumbled 2.54 per cent Monday on growing jitters over the fragile political scene at home and worries about the US economy abroad, analysts said.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index ended at 429.60, down 11.21 points or 2.54 per cent.

"The main factors dragging share values down were local politics and worries that the shakeup of the automobile industry in the US," Asia Plus Securities stock analyst Thachatorn Laopudormsuk said.

"Today was a good day for profit-taking after SET's gains last week," he added.

Anti-government protestors have been laying siege to Government House in Bangkok since Friday, spurred on by nightly phone-ins from fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, a populist premier who was ousted by a coup in September 2006, and has been living in self-exile since August, 2008, after being sentenced to two years in jail on an abuse-of-power charge, has been rallying his supporters to bring down the current government and call for a new election.

His phone-in offensive, launched from an undisclosed location abroad, comes as the Thai judicial system is gearing up to decide on what to do with 2 billion dollars in cash belong to Thaksin's family that has been frozen in Thai banks accounts since the 2006 coup.

If the courts decide the money was gained corruptly while Thaksin was prime minister between 2001 to 2006, the family stands to lose their fortune, and Thaksin much of his political clout. (dpa)

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