BANGKOK – The release of a version of the King’s Anthem film accidentally caused a massive sell-off in the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, when the unusually frequent appearance of High Royal Highness Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn in the film was misinterpreted by traders as a sign that something significant but unspeakable was imminent.
The film, just released by SF Cinema PCL, was seen for the first time at a late-morning showing of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and included nine archival footage shots of the Crown Prince with His Majesty the King from the last 50 years.
The previous Kings’ Anthem film at SF Cinema had included just one shot of the Crown Prince, and the one before that had none at all.
Analysts believe the severe spike in Crown Prince appearances was the cause of the panic.
“Stock traders are very data-sensitive, and respond to disruptive trends,” said Jumporn Boonsitrad, a broker at Bualuang Securities. “The 900% increase of Crown Prince visibility in a single film cycle is off the charts, and it’s not surprising some people reacted strongly.”
By noon, the benchmark SET had dropped 25% to 604.25, when trading was automatically suspended by the computer-controlled board. Executives of the bourse went on damage control, calling a live press conference to calm investors.
“There is absolutely no reason to see the SF Cinema film as anything but an outlier,” said SET President Charamporn Jotikasthira. “The broader market view shows that the King’s Anthem films at Major Cineplex and EGV are still holding steady at 1-3 Crown Prince inclusions. Even the non-blue chip Apex and House films have shown no increase in Crown Prince visibility for the last three quarters.”
Trading resumed at 1pm and recovered slightly, but still closed at 652.50 to record the single-biggest one-day drop in the bourse’s history.
CNBC, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal all reported on the story by late afternoon. By evening, the MICT had blocked access to their websites and suspended their broadcasts on TRUEVisions cable for discussion of sensitive subjects with inappropriate language and words.
A statement from the MICT warned Thais not to openly discuss the situation or to draw any blatantly obvious conclusions.
