SINGAPORE (Oct 13): Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning monarch died on Thursday night. He was 88. Bhumibol has been a symbol of unity in Thailand, which had 10 coups during his seven-decade reign. He had been ill for years, making limited public appearances and spending most of his time in the hospital.

(See also: Thailand’s King Bhumibol has died, royal household bureau says)

The most recent bout of illness before his death triggered a selloff in Thai equities which hit Thailand-focused equity funds (see table below). Since Oct 7, the Kingdom’s benchmark SET Index has tumbled 6.5% in local currency terms to multi-month lows while the Thai Baht has weakened 1.5% against the Singapore dollar.

The biggest decliner was Ho Yin Pong’s S$220 million Allianz Thailand Equity fund, which has fallen 8.8% over the past three trading days. Ho’s fund is one of the poorest performers among its peers this year with returns of just 4 %. This is less than half the returns of the SET Index, which is up 11.5%. Since the selloff, a number of the Allianz fund’s top 10 holdings (at Aug 31) have been a drag on returns. They include mobile operator Advanced Info Service, down 7.4%; and retail developer Central Pattana Pcl, down 11.1%. Both stocks make up a tenth of the Allianz fund’s total assets.

Not spared from the recent selloff is this year’s best performing Thai equity fund, Kok Fook Meng’s S$19 million LionGlobal Thailand fund. The LionGlobal fund has fallen 7.2% since Oct 7, but still outperforms the SET Index on a ytd basis with returns of 14.4%. The fund has a concentrated portfolio - the top 10 holdings make up 70% of total assets (at Aug 31). The largest holdings of the Allianz fund are oil and gas company PTT Pcl (11.7%), 7-Eleven convenience store operator CP All Pcl (11.1%) and Siam Commercial Bank Pcl (8.7%).

Meanwhile, a number of ASEAN funds that have nearly a quarter of assets invested in Thailand were also weighed by falling Thai shares, but to a lesser extent. They include the S$768 million JPMorgan ASEAN Equity fund, down 2.5%; the S$6 million Templeton ASEAN fund, down 2.3%; and the S$244 million BGF ASEAN Leaders fund, down 2.3%. The three funds are currently overweight Thai stocks relative to their benchmark, the MSCI South East Asia Index, which has a 17% allocation.

(All returns are as at Oct 12 and in Singapore dollar terms, unless otherwise stated)