Southeast Asian markets: Thai stocks bounce; others mixed

Thai stocks bounced on the back of data showing strong lending growth for large-cap banks, but shares elsewhere in south-east Asia were mixed on Thursday as investors fretted over the wider impact of the euro zone's debt crisis. The Thai main SET index ended up 1.36 percent at 1,125.78, after a four-day losing streak, led by gains in big banks such as Bangkok Bank Pcl.
Brokers said investors were also looking to buy shares at bargain prices. "I think the selling here is overdone although the outlook in euro zone does not look good. I think we can bounce here from 1,100 in the near term as the SET has fallen from 1,250 to these levels without pause," said Andrew Yates, head of international equity sales at broker Asia Plus Securities. Malaysian shares also rose 0.6 percent and Indonesia's index edged up 0.08 percent. But Singapore's index inched down 0.03 percent, the Philippine index declined 0.5 percent and Vietnamese stocks dropped 2.3 percent.