Explosion, gunfire ring out near Bangkok protest site

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (C) leaves the Royal Thai Air Force headquarters after a cabinet meeting in Bangkok February 25, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Suthep said protesters would target Shinawatra businesses again on Tuesday, a threat that sent stock prices tumbling last week. Some shares were recovering on Tuesday.

SC Asset Corp, a property developer controlled by the Shinawatra family, lost almost 10 percent in the second half of last week and mobile handset distributor M-Link Asia Corp , also with links to the family, lost 12 percent.

SC Asset was up 2 percent at 0530 GMT and M-Link up nearly 7 percent.

National flag carrier Thai Airways International releases 2013 results on Tuesday and is expected to report a huge loss. It may cite a slump in tourism since the protests began last November as one of the factors.

Trade figures released on Tuesday showed a huge 15.5 percent drop in imports in January from a year before, reflecting weakness in consumption, construction and other activities as the political crisis deepened. Exports dropped 2 percent.

Thailand is an export base for top global car makers and a major producer of hard disk drives.

Imports were lower in most sectors, with machines and parts down 16 percent year-on-year, computers and parts down 19 percent, auto parts down 31.8 percent, steel products down 14.3 percent and consumer goods down 5.3 percent.

At least 20 people have been killed and more than 700 wounded since the protests began in November.

It is the worst political violence since 2010, when Thaksin's supporters paralysed Bangkok for weeks. More than 90 people were killed and 2,000 wounded during that unrest, which ended when Suthep, then a deputy premier, sent in troops.

Demonstrators accuse former telecoms tycoon Thaksin of nepotism and corruption and say that, prior to being ousted by the army in 2006, he used taxpayers' money for populist policies such as a controversial subsidy for rice farmers and easy loans that bought him the loyalty of millions.

In a bit of good news for Yingluck, the Election Commission approved a 712 million baht ($21.87 million) fund to be drawn from the central budget for rice farmers, some of whom have been waiting months for payment under a state subsidy scheme.

The sum will go some way towards appeasing the farmers, who protested in Bangkok last week demanding to speak to Yingluck, but is a tiny fraction of the estimated 130 billion baht her government needs to pay to nearly a million rural workers.

Thai protesters target businesses linked to PM	Thai court rules against crackdown on protests