This marks another step by the central bank towards loosening regulations and allowing Thais to invest abroad. Foreign investment was closed off after the 1997 financial crisis, but the central bank recently permitted Thais to invest abroad through foreign investment funds.

"As a next step, the SET and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will seek to attract joint-venture firms in which Thais own a stake, or purely Thai-owned firms that are operating abroad, to mobilise funds through the Thai stock market," she said.

"We've already set up a joint committee to consider relaxing regulations [that currently] obstruct the fund-mobilisation process. This will strengthen and build up the competitiveness of the Thai stock market in the long term."

Allowing such companies to raise funds on the Thai stock market will create business opportunities for them and increase products on the bourse, Patareeya said.

SET executive vice president Vichate Tantiwanich said setting a maximum amount that foreign companies can raise on the Thai stock market was aimed at mitigating risk for domestic investors.

"We'll use a first-come first-served approach for these companies," he said.

Meanwhile, the SET, the SEC and the Investment Bankers' Club will conduct a hearing to consider what listing criteria need to be revised for dual listings.

"DTAC is a good dual-listing study case," he said.

Total Access Communication (DTAC), which will launch its initial public offering (IPO) this week, is the first company to make a dual listing in the Thai stock market. It is already listed on the Singapore Exchange.

Kasikorn Securities executive director Vikran Paovarojkit said dual listings were something new for the Thai stock market.

"Share prices of companies with dual listings will not necessarily move in the same way [as those of other companies], because there are many factors, including foreign exchange, transaction costs, market risks and country risks, that affect share prices."

He is unable, for instance, to tell investors whether DTAC's IPO price of Bt40 a share in Thailand is worthwhile compared with its share price of US$1.27 (Bt44), in Singapore, because country risk factors must be taken into account.

"I believe hedge funds are poised to shorten DTAC's stock on the Singapore Exchange and lengthen the stock in the Thai stock market.

"If DTAC's share price in Singapore goes up, then its share price on the Thai bourse will likely follow. But if the situation on the Thai stock market is not good, it will affect its share price here," he said.

Siriporn  Chanjindamanee

The Nation