Thai Exchange Moves Personnel After Protest Threats

Updated Jan. 15, 2014 7:42 a.m. ET

The gates of the Stock Exchange of Thailand building in Bangkok were guarded with the gates locked on Tuesday. European Pressphoto Agency

BANGKOK—Thailand’s stock exchange will keep its main office closed indefinitely until the threat of seizure by antigovernment protesters who have tried to shut down the capital has passed, officials said Wednesday.

Photos: Capital Shutdown

Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg News

Protest leaders in Thailand are thinking up new ways to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from power, as mass rallies continue to paralyze Bangkok. The WSJ’s Ramy Inocencio speaks with James Hookway about the situation on the ground.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand closed the premises and sent some workers who deal with administrative and post-trade services to a subsidiary office at a shopping mall, located a few miles north of the nearest protest site in downtown Bangkok.
“The SET is ready to close our office for as long as it has to,” Executive Vice President Bordin Unakul told The Wall Street Journal. “We are convinced that our online systems are ready and efficient to accommodate remote access from anywhere.”
Mr. Bodin assured that securities trading was carried out Wednesday without interruption and would continue, with most of the exchange’s personnel working at home by remote access to offsite servers.
Militant protesters allied with the main antigovernment demonstrators had said Monday that they might seize the stock exchange Wednesday in their drive to force out Prime Minister Yingluck Shinatawatra and derail elections set for Feb. 2.
There has been no attempt by protesters to actually take over the prominent building, located near one of the main protest sites where thousands of people have been blocking traffic at key intersections.
“What investors are keeping an eye on is whether the protesters will actually rally at the stock market and whether they will only make a brief visit or besiege the building,” said Thanomsak Saharatchai, a trader at KT ZMICO Securities.
The Thai Stock Exchange’s building appeared deserted Wednesday with all gates and doors shut. A few security guards have been stationed around its premises. No protesters were seen near the area. The nearest protest site is two kilometers (1.2 miles) away.
“We have not planned any extra security program,” said Mr. Bodin said, who noted that the protesters have been non-violent and their actions largely “symbolic.”
The SET’s composite index traded at 1,277.03 Wednesday, down 1.45%, with relatively light trade of THB35.37 billion ($1.07 million), compared with last year’s daily average of THB48 billion ($1.45 billion).
“While investors have taken profits after the Thai market rose over 40 points in the past two days, light trade volume shows many are still keeping a wait-and-see stance as the Thai political turmoil drags on,” said Mayuree Chowvikran, an investment strategist at Maybank Kim Eng Securities. MBKET.TH -1.39% Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) PCL Thailand: Bangkok THB21.30 -0.30 -1.39% Jan. 15, 2014 4:35 pm Volume : 58,700 P/E Ratio 8.88 Market Cap THB12.33 Billion Dividend Yield 3.29% Rev. per Employee N/A More quote details and news » MBKET.TH in Your Value Your Change Short position
The SET has been a target before in the political turmoil that has roiled Thailand for the past decade by supporters and opponents of Ms. Yingluck and her prominent but polarizing brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as premier in a coup in 2006.
In 2010, after several weeks of besieging Bangkok’s main business district, supporters of Mr. Thaksin, known as “Red Shirts,” escalated their protest against the then-government, run by Mr. Thaksin’s opponents, and set the SET on fire, as well as several banks and other buildings.
The arson caused physical damage to the stock exchange building but not to the trading system, which has redundancies built in to off-site servers.
In the latest violence in Bangkok, a grenade exploded late Tuesday at the Bangkok residence of Thailand’s former prime minister and current opposition leader, damaging the roof and shattering windows, police said Wednesday. No one was injured in the blast at the home of Abhisit Vejjajiva, police said.
Former Prime Minister Abhisit and his family had moved out of the attacked house a while ago and weren’t home, according to the police. A caretaker was on site.
“We still don’t know who did it but we have collected evidence, talked to witness and are waiting to check video from a security camera,” said Pol. Maj. Gen. Suebsak Pansura, chief of Bangkok’s police in the area.
It is the latest in a series of attacks in recent weeks including drive-by shootings on groups of protesters. Two people were injured in such an attack Tuesday night, and four police officers were injured in a separate clash with protesters.
Mr. Suebsak said police suspect that the blast “was meant as a threat to intimidate Mr. Abhisit.”
Mr. Abhisit has only occasionally taken part in the protests, but his former deputy prime minister and former leading Democrat, Suthep Thaugsuban, has been leading them for weeks in the Thai capital, drawing on the support of mostly middle-class people opposed to Ms. Yingluck.
—Wilawan Watcharasakwet contributed to this article.
Write to Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol at nopparat.chaichalearmmongkol@wsj.com

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