The respected financial think tank indicated Saturday that the bearish sentiment of the Thai bourse this week, with the SET index closing Friday at 689.13 points - its lowest level in three weeks and 2.73 per cent lower than the previous week - was due to the lack of positive factors amid continued political woes.

Next week, the market sentiment would depend on key economic data in July to be released by the BOT, including the consumer price index (CPI), as well as major external factors such as the global oil price trend and the direction of overseas stock markets, the leading think tank noted.

Domestic political developments, including progress in the Senate's selection of a new five-member Election Commission (EC) and an official decision whether the next general election will be postponed from October 15 as scheduled will also affect the market sentiment next week, according to KRC.

Due to the bearish sentiment, the total turnover on the Thai stock market this week accounted for Bt43.39 billion (US$1.15 billion), a drop of 15.43 per cent from the previous week, or Bt8.68 billion (US$230.3 million) a day on average from Bt12.83 (US$340.4 million) a day in the previous week, the private research house reported.