The weekend’s and yesterday’s protests actually caught quite a fair bit of attention in the global media and made the market drop some 40 pts (2.5%) in a day. Our viewpoint is simple, this bill still has to go through the Senate and then the Constitutional Court at which point we think it won’t pass. The unfortunate aspect for all this is that perhaps some travellers may not come to Thailand during xmas and new years thus hurting hotels and local business and that this political rubbish may go on for a few more months if Mr. T keeps pushing the bill through, however the market volatility has only presented to us some wonderful opportunities

About 10,000 demonstrators joined rallies that paralyzed traffic in separate parts of Bangkok, according to police estimates. The Democrat party has vowed to continue organizing demonstrations unless the government scraps the bill.

The Senate may debate the bill starting Nov. 11 and a vote might occur within 60 days, speaker Nikom Wairatpanich said today. The government, led by Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra, commands a majority in parliament.

Source: Bloomberg