Thai stocks climbed to their highest in almost 16 years on Thursday, led by banking and telecoms shares, but shares in Indonesia and the Philippines fell amid renewed concerns about Chinese growth that gripped sentiment across Asia. Thailand's benchmark SET index finished up 0.6 percent at 1,171.34, coming off an intraday peak of 1,174.42, the highest since 1996.
The resilience of domestic demand lured buyers of bank and telecoms shares, sending the biggest bank Bangkok Bank Pcl up 3.1 percent and telecoms firm Advanced Info Service Pcl 2.7 percent higher. Malaysia's main index also gained 0.23 percent while the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange's Vietnam Index rose 1.84 percent, led by securities stocks on hopes for better-than-expected profits in the first quarter.
In a choppy and range-bound session elsewhere, Jakarta's Composite Index ended down 0.35 percent and the Philippine index was down 0.38 percent after Wednesday's rise to an all-time high. Singapore's Straits Times Index inched down 0.02 percent, failing to break above the year's high after rising 1.2 percent in the previous session. Asian shares eased on Thursday, with the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index easing 0.17 percent by 0944 GMT.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday the world's second largest economy must embrace slower growth and bolder political reform to keep its economy from faltering. He also dampened hopes for any near-term easing measures in the country's property sector, sending Chinese shares lower.
Overall fund flows that have driven the emerging Southeast Asian stock markets remained good although funds appeared to be more selective and the focus was more on domestic-oriented shares, brokers in the region said. "Investors are cautious again. I think we still can expect liquidity driven markets although further rally of share prices may happen slowly," said Pichai Lertsupongkij, head of investment advisory services at broker Thanachart Securities in Bangkok.
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