Baht holds steady but yuan faces headwinds from US-China conflict

The Thai currency is expected to move between 31.53 and 31.73, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, head of Markets Strategy at SCB Securities.
On Wednesday night, the stock market rose for the fourth consecutive day. The S&P 500 increased by 0.6 per cent due to the additional financial policies of the US, as well as the news of a successful Covid-19 vaccine being developed.
Stoxx Europe 600 saw a surge in sales, pushing it down by 0.9 per cent.
In the bond market, investors’ negative view towards the economy has not changed, going by the German Ten-Year Treasury which decreased by three basis points to minus 0.49. The US Ten-Year Treasury stayed at 0.60 per cent, lifting gold price to $1,871 per ounce.
The strategist said that several investors had decided to continue to park their money in low-risk assets, despite the turnover of registered companies and stock market situation not being in the negative zone.
In the financial market, the dollar has continued weakening, by 0.2 per cent, compared to other main currencies, while the euro has reached a new high in the past 21 months, due to the market's confidence in the EU's economic recovery.
Moreover, some investors have decided to hold on to the euro instead of the dollar, due to worsening US-China ties.
At the same time, the baht was weakened by foreign investors’ speculation.
Amid the conflict between the US and China, the strategist advised investors to monitor the yuan, which was the clearest representative of risk in the Asian financial market.