STOCKS NEWS THAILAND-CIMB Thai surges on Bank of Ayudhya buy report

Shares in CIMB Thai Bank Pcl jumped as much as 23 percent to 2.96 baht, the highest since Nov. 5, 2010, after a newspaper reported that its parent, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd , planned to buy a stake in Bank of Ayudhya.

Local newspaper Khao Hoon quoted a market source as saying that Malaysian bank CIMB had conducted due diligence on a plan to acquire about 25 percent stake in Bank of Ayudhya from General Electric Co (GE( and sought business cooperation with CIMBT in which it owns 93.15 percent.

GE sold about a quarter of its stake in Bank of Ayudhya late last month, cutting its share in the bank to 25.3 percent. .

CIMBT shares were up 19.2 percent at 2.86 baht. The banking subindex was down 0.9 percent while the broader SET index fell 0.4 percent.

1133 (0433 GMT)

(Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap in Bangkok; viparat.jantraprapapweth@thomsonreuters.com); Editing by Jijo Jacob