Bangkok - Thai shares fell 2 per cent Tuesday as investors became worried that weekend protest rallies could turn violent, as well as on sharp declines in share prices in China and Hong Kong, brokers said. The Stock Exchange of Thailand index ended at 676.22, down 14.19 points on a modest trading volume of 16.5 billion baht.
"Investors do not like political shake-ups and uncertainty, and they do fear that the (so-called) Red Shirt protests might turn violent," said Chaiyos Jiwangkul, an analyst at Country Group Securities.
"The worry is that if there is big political turmoil then this is going to have a lot of nasty effects on stability and the economy."
Chaiyos also said Thai shares were affected by heavy selling in China, where investors were disturbed by predictions that Chinese banks will offer massive share sales to strengthen their balance sheets.
