Thailand’s equity market rose sharply on Wednesday, as investors, relieved by the government’s reversal of plans to impose an effective withholding tax on foreign equity investments, snapped up stocks made cheap by the single biggest one-day fall in 17 years. The benchmark SET Index was up 10.6 per cent at midday.

Sriyan Pietersz, head of research at JP Morgan, said the bounce in the battered equity market was driven by bargain hunters, who saw Tuesday’s fiasco as an opportunity to pick up Thai equities on the cheap.