to trigger another financial crisis in the region. "The situation is very different than it was in 1997 and 1998, when you had large current account deficits in the region and large vulnerability because of borrowing," said Michael Mussa, the International Monetary Fund's research director in 1997 and 1998 who is now an economist at the Institute for International Economics in Washington. "It is a purely domestic political event and when the smoke clears, it may be a good time to buy," said Kevin Hebner, global investment strategist at Greenwich, Connecticut-based Third Wave Global Investors LLC, which manages over $400 million. Bonds The perceived risk of owning bonds based on Thailand's debt rose today, according to data compiled by Credit Derivatives Research LLC. The cost of buying credit-default swaps based on Thailand's bonds jumped as high as $75,000 from $36,000 yesterday, said Tim Backshall, a strategist at Credit Derivatives Research in Walnut Creek, California. The price was $54,000 this afternoon, he said. Credit- default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to speculate on an increase or decrease in indebtedness. The contracts pay an investor $10 million in the event of a default during the next five years. Yield premiums on Thailand's 7.75 percent bond due in April 2007 compared with benchmark Treasuries rose 2 basis points to 60 basis points, the highest in a month, HSBC prices show. "We don't have financial contagion of the irrational type anymore," said Jerome Booth, who helps manage $23 billion in emerging market debt at Ashmore Investment Management in London. "Emerging markets are dominated now by long institutional investors like pension funds and there is no massive short squeezing where problems occur." "It's going to be quite localized," said James Barrineau, an asset manager at Alliance Bernstein in New York who helps manage $9 billion in emerging market bonds. Day 2 (Thursday) Stock Exchange Thai stocks fell to two-month lows before recovering in the first day of trading since a military coup ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Shares of Shin Corp., linked to Thaksin, and its units declined. The SET Index dropped 9.99, or 1.4 percent, to 692.57 at the 4:30 p.m. close in Bangkok. The SET Index fell 29.64 points, or 4.2% to 702.63 in the first minutes of trading Thursday to its lowest intraday level since July 21. But quickly bounced back, suggesting the coup would