Delay in US economic recovery could weaken the baht

The Thai currency is likely to move between 31.12 and 31.32 on Friday, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, senior director of the chief investment office at SCB Securities.
On Thursday night, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes fell by 0.2 and 0.5 per cent, respectively, while the initial jobless claims in the US announced this week increased to 898,000 from 845,000 announced previously. This means that the economy in the short term worsened.
In the financial markets, the dollar strengthened by 0.45 per cent, compared to other main currencies, after the market moved to a risk-off state. The US Ten-Year Treasury was at 0.73 per cent.
Jitipol said that the main issue the market monitored was the promotion of financial policies of the US Democratic Party.
In Thailand, he said the baht moved in a narrower range than before, due to purchasing of bonds of foreign investors. He also advised investors to monitor the US economy. If it recovered later than the market expected, the baht would continue weakening, he added.