Baht expected to strengthen, buoyed by stock market
The baht opened at 30.01 to the US dollar on Friday, unchanged from the closing rate on Thursday.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 29.90 and 30.10, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, senior director of the chief investment office at SCB Securities.
On Thursday night, the financial markets were in a risk-on state, increasing the value of all assets.
The S&P 500 and Stoxx 600 indices rose by 0.4 and 0.1 per cent respectively, while the price of WTI crude oil and gold increased to $48.30 per barrel and $1,883 respectively.
At the same time, the dollar index weakened by 0.1 per cent, while the pound strengthened by 0.3 per cent, after the UK and the EU reached an agreement on Brexit.
The German and UK Ten-Year Treasury yields rose by 3 and 5 basis points respectively. However, the US Treasury yield decreased by 2 basis points.
In Thailand, the baht strengthened back in line with the stock market’s direction, despite no purchasing power from foreign investors.
Jitipol predicted the baht would continue to strengthen on Friday, advising the investors to monitor foreign exchange reserves, after the US placed Thailand on its monitoring list for currency manipulation.
