Tag: thai_baht

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Thailand

Thai Baht Hits 5 Year High

The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones reports today:

A rush of cash into Thailand has sent the baht to its highest level in more than five years, making it Asia’s top currency in 2013, as investors clamor for deals in the fast-expanding Southeast Asian economy.

Fund managers also have been pouring money into shares, driving the benchmark SET Index to a 19-year high this week as fund flows have jumped to their highest levels in 44 weeks, according to data provider EPFR Global.

The roughly 5% rally in the emerging-market currency this year is especially surprising, and in contrast to neighboring currencies of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore that have been falling on renewed jitters over Europe’s banking system. That would normally prompt investors to also yank money out of Thailand.

And:

Late Wednesday in New York, the dollar bought 29.135 baht, down from 29.266 baht late Tuesday.

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Thai politics Thailand

What does the rising baht mean to the Thai government and exporters?

For an examination of what the rising Thai baht — previous posts here and here — means to the Thai government and exporters, I suggest this post from James Harriman at Asian Correspondent:

Panic over the rising baht:

…The Thai baht has strengthened significantly versus the US dollar over the last year, as have most other Asian currencies. As of the second week of October, the baht is up 10.8 percent against the dollar, making it the strongest performing currency in Southeast Asia. Factors driving currency appreciations in the region include interest rate differentials with the US, current account surpluses, and positive investment sentiment on local stocks and bonds.

Market watchers anticipate the US Fed will flood the market with additional liquidity in the coming months, which will put further upward pressure on regional currencies.The graph below shows the performance of regional currencies versus the dollar over the last year. All regional currencies have appreciated with the exception of the Vietnamese Dong, which has depreciated almost 10.0 percent.

2010-10-17_thb_usd.png

(Click through to the post to view a larger graph.)

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Thailand

Thai baht rises to 31.06 to the dollar

Bloomberg: Baht Rises to 13-Year High as Growth Outlook Boosts Inflows:

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) — Thailand’s baht rose to the strongest level since 1997 as the outlook for economic growth and speculation interest rates may rise further encouraged investors to pour money into the nation’s stocks and bonds.

The baht gained 0.4 percent to 31.07 per dollar as of 1:32 p.m. in Bangkok and touched 31.06, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s its highest level since August 1997, when the currency’s collapse helped trigger the Asian financial crisis.