UPDATE: Another opinion piece, this time from Kao Hun which statesthat Bloomberg is an influential news organization in the financial sector with many offices and a large number of staff around the world. Thai staffers at Bloomberg stated that the news story should not go ahead, but the foreigner, Richard Frost in Singapore was pushy and was able to get the story out. No need to look for anyone else, it was Bloombergthat pushed down the stock prices.

BP: If you look through Richard Frost’s articles you will see he is actually in Hong Kong not in Singapore. Makes you wonder how reliable their “source” is.

As we know last week the stock market fell upon rumors of a deterioration of HM the King’s health. Bloomberg were the first toreport on the news that the SET was falling on news that HM the King’s health had deteriorated. Normally, being first to report on something – other news agencies quickly followed (well there was one big exception), but it has resulted in a barrage of attacks againstBloomberg.

ASTV Manager had an article with a headline on October 15 paraphrasing the SET stating “Evil Bloomberg, first to spread the hellish news (แฉบลูมเบิร์กสุดชั่ว ต้นตอปล่อยข่าวนรก). The article then states that SET executives quickly prepared the emergency situation of shutting down the SET if the market dropped below 10% upon news that hooded bandit had employed Bloomberg to falsely speculate to destroy the institution by having a broker in Singapore to ignite the trouble (ไอ้โม่งจ้างสำนักข่าวบลูมเบิร์กวิเคราะห์มั่วทำลายสถาบัน โดยมีโบรกเกอร์ที่สิงคโปร์จุดชนวน) 

BP:  That hooded bandit (ไอ้โม่ง) reference is hilarious.

Naew Na had an editorial on October 19 criticizing Bloomberg for disseminating news about HM the King’s health stating it was inappropriate. It also said that it caused the stock market to crash. This caused much damage and the government and authorities should not let this issue be.

It is believed the disseminating of the news is an evil plan of some movements in Thailand (จึงเป็นไปได้ที่จะเป็นแผนการอันชั่วร้ายของขบวนการคนไทยบางกลุ่มที่ใช้ชาว). Foreigners were used as a tool to destroy the high institution [ie the monarchy].This is a most important matter of danger to the high institution and to national security. It is certain the movement won’t just stop at this.

BP: Umm, there is a difference between reporting a rumor and reporting an analyst’s opinion that rumors are making the SET fall – most people don’t even dispute the fact that the rumors were making the SET fall, but simply reporting this as opposed to the rumour is verboten. By their logic they should also not criticize Bloomberg because by doing so they are also reporting on the rumor which they think should not be disseminated. Argh, but they are happy to do that.

If you want to have a idea on how uninformed some are Naew Na had a similar rant in their editorial on October 16 calling Bloomberg a “European news agency” (สำนักข่าวด้านเศรษฐกิจและการเงินฉบับหนึ่งของยุโรปที่ชื่อ บลูมเบิร์). A google search would have alerted them to a Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg LP, but well who cares about facts!

Thai Post states that one factor which lead to the SET fall was Bloomberg’s report 

BP: Surely, if Bloomberg and the other areas of the foreign media are somehow responsible for the stock market fall we need to know when the SET started falling and when Bloomberg‘s first article was released to the public.

A reliable source with access to a Bloomberg terminal points out thatBloomberg‘s first article on the issue was timestamped 3:38pm on October 14 (note the current time stamp of the web article is the time stamp for the last update).

So for October 14, the SET was as follows: 

  • 752.22 10:00 a.m. (opening price)
  • 723.82 3:38 p.m. (Bloomberg‘s story hits the wires)
  • 714.64 4:10 p.m.  (lowest point of day)
  • 731.37 4:45 p.m. (closing price)

BP: So actually the SET went up after Bloomberg‘s story hit the wires.

For October 15, have a screenshot from the SET website below:
Economy SET oct 15 p2
BP: You will see this drop of 5.3% was after everyone else reported the story and AFTER the Royal Household Bureau released a statement saying that the HM the King’s condition was good.  

Foreigners were not even the major sellers, it was local institutions as this screenshot from the SET shows:

Economy SET oct 15

BP: BP’s view is that the lack of information was concerning to foreigners who were confused as to what was happening. They put a lot of money into the SET this year (as of now 63 Billion Baht) and also during October – see here - whereas locals and local institutions have been the sellers. Now, after the news foreigners are back buying again.

The SET was falling before the Bloomberg report so there is no evidence they were the cause of the SET decline.