Thai stocks seen falling on state of emergency

BANGKOK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Thai stocks were expected to
open lower on Tuesday after the prime minister declared a state
of emergency overnight, although some analysts said the fall
might not be large.

(For a story on political developments, click [nSP120651])

"We should definitely expect panic selling at the opening,
possibly pushing the index to a new low below the 660 level,"
said Bualuang Securities head of research Chaiyaporn
Nompitakcharoen.

"We don't think the state of emergency declaration is a big
surprise to financial markets. It's part of the political
jigsaw that the market had expected and the sell-off should be
short-lived," he said.

The stock market has fallen around 23 percent since street
protests against Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej began in May.

On Monday, the index .SETI fell 1.35 percent to 675.22,
although turnover was just 6.3 billion baht ($184 million), the
lowest in nearly a month. Foreign selling continued, helping
push leading energy and bank shares lower.

Support for the main Thai SET index .SETI was seen at
660-640 on Tuesday, Chaiyaporn said.

Tisco Securities strategist Viwat Techapoonphol expected an
opening drop of around 0.75 percent.

"We will definitely see at least a five-point fall, but the
fall should be capped by buying from investors who are now
starting to snap up cheap stocks as they are betting the life
of this government might end soon," Viwat said.

Click [TH/TRADING01] for cumulative trading value by
investor type.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 0157 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1282.83 -1.37% -17.850
USD/JPY JPY= 108.25 0.21% 0.230
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.8247 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 814.35 -0.34% -2.750
US CRUDE CLc1 111.12 -3.76% -4.340
DOW JONES .DJI 11543.55 -1.47% -171.63
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 137.20 -0.54% -0.75
-------------------------------------------------------------

MARKET SUMMARY > Oil drops $4 as weakened Gustav hits US
Gulf Coast [O/R] > Dollar up on oil slide, RBA decision
awaited [USD/] > Gold strikes 1-week low on oil,
platinum down 2 pct [GOL/]

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- For Thailand economic forecast: [POLL-ECI-TH-RTRS]
($1=34.43 Baht)
(Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Alan Raybould)