'Black Tuesday' also meant opportunities

About Bt820 billion in paper wealth disappeared on Black Tuesday and it is not surprising it was sarcastically portrayed as "Thailand's grand winter sale". However, Black Tuesday created losers, winners and lost opportunities.

Chanjira Pinthongkum, a retail investor, said she snapped up shares when the SET index on Tuesday plummeted by 60-odd points. "I anticipated share prices would be low when I bought them, but when the SET index sank even further I was shocked. I have never seen a fall like this in my life," she said.

The SET index on Tuesday tumbled almost 20 per cent at one point before recovering to close the day with a 14.84 per cent loss - the biggest single-day fall in the Thai stock market's history, prompted by the BOT's 30-per cent reserve withholding requirement. The government later announced it would exclude investment in the stock market from the measure.

Chanjira said she was tempted to scoop up stocks because the fundamentals of listed companies remained unchanged, while the steep fall was ascribed to the central bank's measure. "I think it was an opportunity to make a lucrative profit as share prices fell significantly. Today, I have been proved right. All the shares I bought yesterday rose significantly and I have already taken the profit because I think the risk still remains in the stock market. I don't know what will happen next," she said.

An unnamed retail investor said he bought shares in Kasikornbank, Erawan Group, and Home Product Centre. "I bought shares even though I didn't know whether the authorities would exclude the stock market from the central bank's tough measure, but I snapped them up them because I thought the prices were very cheap. I will cut my losses if the share prices fall by 20 per cent," he said.

More on : http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/12 ... 022142.php

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