Thailand Curbs Short Selling, High-Speed Trades Amid Selloff.
Thailand’s stock exchange will tighten curbs on short selling and high-frequency trading as it attempts to revive investor confidence in the world’s worst performing equity market.
Short selling and high-frequency trading will be limited to stocks in the SET100 Index, Asadej Kongsiri, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, told a press briefing Wednesday. The course currently allows short selling of stocks in SET100 Index and other securities with some conditions, while there are currently no limits set on high-speed trades, according to Asadej.
The crackdown on trades popular with hedge funds and day-traders is the latest attempt by Thai regulators to restore confidence in a market that’s seen foreign investors pull about $10 billion in the past two years. The benchmark SET stock index has slid about 10% this year, making it the biggest loser among the world’s major indexes, as listed companies report poor earnings amid sluggish economic outlook. The gauge fell as much as 0.8% on Thursday.
Short-selling transactions on the Thai stock market were valued at about 240 billion baht ($7.1 billion) since Aug. 19, when the stock exchange began publicly publishing the information, according to its website. That accounted for about 4% of total trading turnover.
Source: FINANCE.YAHOO
