SET starts the year with 6% rise as hopes grow of recovery in the US

Thai shares rose 6.4 per cent with trading value as high as Bt18.6 billion to close at 478.69 points.

Asian stock markets rose strongly yesterday, with benchmarks in Tokyo and Shanghai gaining more than 2 per cent, as a Wall Street rally and stimulus plans in the United States and elsewhere buoyed investor hopes for 2009.

Asian stocks rose for the eighth day, pushing the benchmark index to its longest winning streak since 2004, on optimism that government spending and lower interest rates will alleviate the global downturn.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.6 per cent to 91.53 as of 4.26pm in Tokyo, set for the highest level since November 5. The benchmark has risen 5.6 per cent in its longest string of advances since August 2004.

Major stock markets in the region advanced, except in Australia. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 2.1 per cent to close at 9,043.12 in a halfday session, the highest since November 10 and the index's best start in the new year since 2002. US stocks rose to a twomonth high on Friday, with the Standard and Poor's 500 Index gaining 3.2 per cent.

The Thai market was driven mostly by bigcapitalisation stocks, including those in the energy and banking sectors. PTT Exploration and Production jumped 15 per cent to close at Bt123, while PTT rose 8 per cent to Bt189. Banpu surged 13.16 per cent to Bt258, while PTT Aromatics and Refinery and Thai Oil soared 14 and 13 per cent, respectively, to close at Bt11.20 and Bt26.75.

Siam Commercial Bank rose 10 per cent to close at Bt53, while Kasikornbank was up 6.7 per cent to close at Bt48. Siam Cement increased 10.68 per cent to close at Bt114, while Bangkok Bank rose 6 per cent to Bt73.

 The Thai market was closed from December 31 through January 2 for the public holidays. The measure declined 48 per cent last year, its worst performance since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Meanwhile, Apisak Tantivorawong, president of the Thai Bankers' Association and of Krung Thai Bank, said Thai lending growth would slow to about 5 per cent this year as the economy weakens.

"Demand for new loans will be slow as new investment will stall and companies will need less working capital amid the economic slowdown," he said yesterday.

The forecast of 5percent growth is based on an assumption that the economy will grow by between zero and 2 per cent in 2009, he added.