FIIs sell Rs 1258 cr on Thai blues

Selling mania grips Asian markets as Thailand regulator plans curb on foreign currency.

Asian stock markets witnessed heavy selling pressure on Tuesday after Thailand regulator yesterday told banks to lock up 30 per cent of new foreign-currency deposits for a year to curb speculation.

The Thailand Set turned out to be the biggest loser on Tuesday, plunging 16 per cent to its 16-year low. Other emerging market indices fell more than 2 per cent each. Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Malaysia declined between 2.25 and 2.85 per cent.

However, China survived the Asian slide with Shanghai Composite firming up by 1.36 per cent to close at its seven-month high of 2364.18.

The imposition of currency control on international investors resulted in foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turning the largest seller in Thai stocks, net selling shares worth $700 million on Tuesday.

Of the 458 stocks included in the Thailand's Set index, only eight advanced. While PTT "� the country's largest company "� nose-dived 17 per cent, the biggest lender Bangkok Bank plummeted 16 per cent.

As far as the Indian bourses are concerned, FIIs, on Tuesday, net sold Rs 369 crore on the BSE and the NSE, snapping six days of net buying. On the derivatives mart, FIIs remained net sellers to the tune of Rs 889 crore crore.

They bought 48,222 index contracts worth Rs 1,851 crore and sold 69,688 index contracts worth Rs 2,682 crore. FIIs were net seller in stocks futures worth Rs 58 crore.

The slump in the Asian markets saw the BSE Sensex plunge over 500 points intra-day. The index recovered 150 points thereafter to close at 13,382, down a steep 349 points. Of the total traded stocks, 1,633 lost ground, while 917 gained. In total, on Tuesday, Rs 71,000 crore investors' wealth was wiped out on the Indian markets.

The trading volume on the futures and option as well as on the cash market surged indicating profit-booking by investors as equity markets plunged. The volume on F&O shot up by Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 44,000 on the NSE.

F&O players took the advantage of Tuesday's fall with rollover of Nifty futures. The open interest in December Nifty futures declined by around five lakh shares, while carry-forward position in January Nifty futures surged by 18.10 lakh shares.