"Recent rallies in most telecom stocks are simply sentiment-driven now," said Amarit Sukhavanij, telecom analayst at Phatra Merrill Lynch Ltd."How high and how long they can rise depends on newsflow of these firms' operations and profits," he said.

He said analysts found it difficult to come up with proper forecasts for these stocks' prospects because of a lack of adequate information such as the amount of confirmed subscribers.

So far, no local Internet service provider (ISP) is listed on the Thai exchange. Only those listed telecom firms that have some stake in or run their ISP subsidiaries are listed.

The bourse's communication index had jumped 39.9 percent to69.08 points as of the midday close on Thursday from a 49.38 point closing level on October 22.

Thailand's Development Research Institute (TDRI), a well-respected think-tank, said in its recent forecast Internet subscribers in Thailand would soar by 40 percent from now to 2005.

That would make the number of paid Internet accounts climb from between 700,000 and 800,000 this year to between 2.7 and 3.2 million in 2005."I expect more new ISP players next year. Several of them would be large foreign players, which would intensify the competition," said TDRI researcher Somkiat Tangkitvanich.

Shin Corp, Telecomasia favoured stock Amarit of Merrill said that among listed telecom firms he liked Shin Corp and TelecomAsia (TA) most."Both stocks have an upside trend," he added."Shin will be able to use its synergy with its listed subsidiaries to penetrate Internet businesses effectively next year while TA's subsidiary will launch a high-speed cable modem," he said.

At 0832 GMT on Thursday, Shin stocks traded at 216 baht, a68.75 percent leap from the closing price on October 19, while TA traded at 36.75 baht, a 41.1 percent jump from the September 28 closing level.