SET Chairman Confident There's No Manipulators Behind The Active Market, Threatening Serious Actions Against Any Violators

Mr. Chavalit Thanachanan, Chairman of the SET, commanded SET President, Mr. Kittiratt Na-Ranong and his team to closely monitor trading of all securities by every investor group. He also insisted that action against price manipulation by any investors or any groups, no matter what nationality, would be undertaken resolutely and immediately, assuring that no price manipulators will be allowed to cause damage to general investors. Nevertheless, he cautioned the investors to invest carefully in stocks with good performance or future business potential.

"The future of the Thai stock market is still promising and in line with economic trends. Stocks with good fundamentals have upward potential but must be driven by the nature of trading with no price manipulation. Until now, I am confident that no one has dared to challenge the authority of the SET," the SET Chairman said.

Since August 2001, the SET Board of Governors empowered the SET President to prohibit trading under net settlement or margin basis, as well as prohibit either a broker or all of them from receiving buying or selling orders from persons suspected of being manipulators. The SET President thus has to take action immediately and prudently. The SET once decisively prohibited net settlement trading of shares of a securities company in 2002, which proved effective.

"Mr. Kittiratt and his team insisted that there will be resolute actions against any price manipulators similar to the resolute actions last May that not only blocked price manipulators from taking advantage of investors but almost no affected cases were discovered. We will definitely not let this prolonged, and I will closely oversee Mr. Kittiratt and his team to ensure that they actively perform their duties as they have assured me," Mr. Chavalit said confidently.