Thai stock index falls 19 points amid Greece debt fears

BANGKOK, May 7 (TNA, Agencies) – Thai stock index plunged almost 20 points on Friday morning amid concerns that Greece’s debt crisis could spread through other European nations.

Thai stocks fell 19.47 points or 2.48 percent to close at 765.78 at the end of  the morning session on Friday. Charoen Iampattanatham, Executive Vice President of KT Zmico Securities, said Thai stock market dropped more than 15 points in tandem with foreign stock markets. Greece debt crisis is the major factor leading to heavy sell-off by investors.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s domestic political turmoil has yet eased pending clarifications from the government and protesters after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s proposed reconciliation road map has run into opposition from the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the multi-coloured group.  Mr Charoen urged investors to be more cautious and focus on short-term investment.

Asian stock markets have fallen sharply during Friday morning trading, amid investor fears that Greece’s debt crisis could halt the global economic recovery.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 326.76 points, or 3.1 percent, to 10,368.93. Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he was “very concerned” by the losses and would take appropriate measures to combat any negative effects on local markets.

The country’s central bank said it would inject more than $20bn  in short-term loans to commercial banks to boost liquidity.

Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 2.2 percent to 1,648.53.

Australia’s benchmark was off 0.7 percent after earlier falling more than 2 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng retreated 0.8 percent to 19,976.75.

The sell-off in Asia came after the Dow Jones industrials plunged 1,000 points at one point Thursday – the biggest drop ever during a trading day – amid fears that Greece’s debt problems could spread and undermine the global economic recovery.

The Dow later recovered some of its earlier losses, closing at 10,520.32, down 3.2 percent. (TNA, Agencies)