Thailand’s benchmark SET index fell 2% at the open Friday, after the armed forces seized power in a coup on Thursday, two days after declaring martial law.
Thai stocks have proved resilient during months of turmoil, with the SET flat this week and up 6% year to date, but the coup marked a further level of dysfunctionin one of Southeast Asia’s biggest economies, rattling investors.
The baht initially weakened after the coup was announced to as low as 32.72 to the U.S. dollar from around 32.45, but was last at 32.51.
Elsewhere in Asia, most markets moved modestly higher after a tepid session on Wall Street, where gains were capped by three slightly weaker-than-expected readings on the world’s largest economy, including on sales of existing homes in April.
Japan’s Nikkei led gainers in Asia, rising 0.9%, as a weaker yen prompted buying at the end of a positive week for Tokyo. The Nikkei is on track to complete its best week in more than a month, having risen 2.7% so far.
The dollar gained 0.4% against the yen on Thursday and pushed slightly higher in Asian trade. It was last at ¥101.79, compared with ¥101.73 late Thursday in New York.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3%, South Korea’s Kospi was flat, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose by 0.2%.
In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the Shanghai Composite were both flat.
In corporate news, Sony Corp. fell 2.2% in Tokyo after company’s chief executive’s failed to impress investors with an ambitious goal of increasing operating profit threefold in the next fiscal year.
In Hong Kong, shares in property developer Sunac China Holdings jumped 8.8% higher after the company said it would pay HK$6.3 billion (US$813 million) for a 24% stake in fellow developer Greentown China Holdings. Shares in Greentown were up 6.1%.
