Bird flu dents Thailand stocks

THAILAND'S flamboyant Prime Minister attempted to quell fears about the spread of bird flu three days ago by eating a delicious all-chicken meal in front of the country's media.

'It's the best chicken in the world, Thai chicken,' Thaksin Shinawatra said as he chomped his way through.

Today, the former telecoms magnate admitted it was 'very likely' the disease had reached Thailand, with five people undergoing tests. The unpleasant news triggered a sell-off on the stock market, with the SET index falling 6.8 points to 753.37.

The decline took some of the shine off what has been the region's best-performing equities market for the past 12 months. Brokers warned that the damage could become more severe if the scourge is not contained.

Bird flu spreads from infected animals to human beings and can be lethal. Experts are deeply concerned that it could mutate and become a disease that spreads directly among the human population.

The scare, which has haunted Vietnam in recent weeks, comes as jitters about the return of Sars, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, appeared to have waned despite fresh cases appearing in China. There have also been a few bird flu cases in Japan, Taiwan and Korea.

'It is very likely that we could have bird flu here but I haven't seen the results yet,' Thaksin said. 'We will know the lab results on the five suspects today.'

The World Health Organisation has already sounded the alert. 'The more widespread it becomes, the more chance there is that it could alter its form,' said a spokesman. 'It is impossible to predict a time or date for this but there are mounting opportunities for the virus to alter its form and begin affecting the human population.'

The Lancet medical journal has warned that the bird flu could mingle, or 'reassort', with human flu strains to produce a superbug with global reach.

'The fear is that a strain might reassort with a human influenza virus to become contagious among people,' it said. 'In view of the high mortality of human influenza associated with this strain, the prospect of a worldwidepandemic is massively frightening.'

The brunt of the slide today was born by chicken exporter Charoen Pokphand Foods, which dived 11.5% to 3.54 baht. Thailand has a large poultry industry but analysts said the more significant concern was that the disease could dent confidence in the broader Thai economy, particularly the multi-billion-dollar tourist industry.

In Australia, National Australia Bank made up more ground after the sell-off sparked by its rogue trading scandal. The lender, which had been expected to detail the full extent of its losses today, will issue its assessment next week.

'I am very confident this incident will not adversely impact the ability of the National to continue to grow,' embattled boss Frank Cicutto said. NAB shares traded up 13 cents at A$29.67.

Miners came in for profit-taking. Rio Tinto backtracked 25 cents to A$36.20 and BHP Billiton gave up three cents to A$11.71. The All Ordinaries index was ahead 1.8 points at 3341.2.

Tech-stock gains aided Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Average closed up 68.31 points at 11,069.01 as chipmaker Tokyo Electron firmed 80 yen to 8200. The company is seen as benefiting from rising demand.

Most other Asian markets remained closed for Lunar New Year.