Nok Airlines yesterday won a major reprieve from shareholders to continue to fly after the management committed to a rehabilitation package including downsizing its operations, halving the fleet, and cutting salaries of senior staff. But the ultimate fate of the budget carrier remains at the mercy of the oil market as Nok board members and shareholders believe it is better off being grounded if crude oil prices soar above US$160 a barrel from around $145 currently.
STOCK MARKET
Oil prices rather than local politics will remain the main driver of the Stock Exchange of Thailand over the next several months, analysts said yesterday.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
DTAC, the country's second largest mobile operator, yesterday announced the resignation of CEO Sigve Brekke and the appointment of Tore Johnsen as the new CEO, effective from Sept 1.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
Foreign investment in Thailand is not progressing as expected because of inappropriate government policies, according to the Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT).
PROPERTY
Housing prices in the second half of this year will be higher than in the first half to reflect the rising price of construction materials, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said yesterday. He said that recently completed units would be in demand at the moment as buyers would rush to acquire homes built when construction costs were lower. However, he could not predict how much the prices would increase because it depended on the price of materials.
AGRICULTURE
The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) plans to expand its crop insurance scheme to cover rice next year. BAAC president Teerapong Tungteerasunun said yesterday that the state-owned bank may provide an insurance programme for rice farmers to guard against natural disasters.
PATTAYA : SCG Chemicals, one of the leading petrochemical producers in the Asia-Pacific region, has revised up its projected sales revenue for 2008 by 25% to 150 billion baht even though it has cut ethylene cracker production to soften the impact of rising raw material costs.
ECONOMY
Fears of a US recession are overblown, and emerging markets have mostly ''decoupled'' from the slowdown in the world's largest economy, according to Deutsche Bank. Anurag Mahesh, the head of Asia Pacific global investments and sales for Deutsche Bank, said economic growth in Europe would slow significantly in the second half.
IN Brief
MARKETS :The new Mtrack energy exchange-traded fund (ETF) will begin trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Aug 7.
ASIA FOCUS
As oil prices soar to new heights and nationalist feelings start to emerge about "national assets", many companies across the globe are starting to feel the pinch and are looking to brace for a possible backlash, a move that could cause headache to Thai companies expanding outside the safe borders of Thailand.
ASIA FOCUS
Depleting domestic reserves coupled with higher returns in regional markets could be pushing Thai companies to move outside the country, but they need to be aware of risk management to mitigate any adverse impact from changing political or geographic conditions.
ASIA FOCUS
As nationalistic feelings take hold in Mongolia and protests against the government start to intensify, the president has declared a four-day state of emergency in Ulan Bator that will last until the weekend.
