Thai stocks sharply higher

Thai stocks rose sharply on Wednesday as investors fished for bargains after recent falls due to the bird flu outbreak left many stocks looking cheap.
The benchmark Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index closed up 18.31 points, or 2.62 percent, at 718.06 points.
The big-cap SET 50 index was up 2.7 percent at 47.53 points while turnover increased to 38.1 billion baht ($972.2 million) from 36.9 billion baht on Tuesday.
"A lot of stocks are trading below their fundamental values," said KGI Securities analyst Pichai Lertsupongkit.
"We recommended our customers use the market's volatility as an opportunity to accumulate stocks, especially in sectors not affected by the bird flu, such as energy and petrochemicals."
Analysts said the market had largely priced in the bird flu news, which caused the index to fall from 779 points to as low as 649 points over the last two weeks.
The market even shrugged off the rising death toll from bird flu. Fourteen people, 10 in Vietnam and four in Thailand, have now died from the virus.
He expected fourth-quarter results, due by the middle of this month, to help lift the market.
"I firmly believe that fourth-quarter results will all look good, but not only that, the outlook for this year is also improving," he said. KGI Securities expected 20-25 percent earnings growth for listed firms this year, he added.
"When results roll out, people will review the market," he said. "In the end, stock prices are going to reflect the fundamentals."
Shares in ethylene and propylene producer Thai Olefins rose 6.45 percent to 66 baht after the firm said it would spend $70-80 million to increase capacity at its existing plant by 26 percent.
Merchant banking group Finansa shares jumped 7.37 percent to 51 baht after the firm said its finance subsidiary, Finansa Credit Co, will become a full-service bank next year after merging with Bangkok First Investment and Trust (BFIT) BFIT shares leapt 12.74 percent to 17.70 baht.
The finance sector index was up 4.42 percent.
Shares in Thailand's largest plastic tableware maker, Srithai Superware, shot up 9.93 percent to 8.30 baht as the firm said it would spend 193 million baht on expanding capacity and targeted sales growth of nine percent.
The top gainer was real estate developer Sansiri, which jumped 18.45 percent to a two-week high of 12.20 baht, helping the property sector index rise 3.25 percent.
Sansiri, which analysts expect to report as much as an 11-fold rise in earnings, is giving out share rights to shareholders whose names appears on its books on February 13.