Baht strengthens but could slide if markets in risk-off state for long

The Thai currency is expected to move between 31.15 and 31.35 on Friday, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, head of Markets Strategy at SCB Securities.
On Thursday night, stocks around the world were sold, as investors were concerned about the slow global economic recovery. The S&P 500 fell by 0.6 per cent, while Euro Stoxx 600 decreased by 0.8 per cent.
The strategist informed that investors moved their money to government bonds, increasing the US Ten-Year Treasury yield by 5 basis points to 0.62 per cent. Besides, the gold price was down by 0.3 per cent to $1,802 dollar per ounce.
Investors’ concerns about the virus were aggravated by the high infection rate in the US. Eating out in the US reportedly was down by 95 per cent, despite restaurants being open for business as usual.
The initial jobless claim last week was 1.31 million, and continual claimers totalled18.1 million.
In the financial market, the dollar strengthened by 0.2 per cent against other main currencies, due to the risk-off capital market.
The baht has weakened due to low liquidity and investors’ concerns about political and economic matters. The strategist predicted that the baht would move in line with the dollar and other Asian currencies.
If the financial market was in the risk-off state for a long time, the baht would continue weakening, he added.