Baht likely to weaken slightly as US Treasury yield props up dollar
The baht opened at 30.55 to the US dollar on Friday, unchanged from the close on Thursday.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 30.50 and 30.60, Krungthai Bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool said.
He said that the direction of the US Ten-Year Treasury yield had still been effective towards the dollar’s movement. If the yield decreased or became stable, the market would be open to risk, pressuring the US currency to weaken and supporting other currencies to strengthen.
He explained that the baht had been supported by the sales of assets, stocks in particular, that tended to increase in volume.
Meanwhile, importers would tend to buy the dollar, when it was at Bt30.50, the market strategist added.
Poon also predicts that the dollar will strengthen if the market fluctuates. In that case, the baht will weaken up to 30.90 per US dollar.
It was possible the Thai currency would strengthen again if the dollar weakened and foreign funds flowed back into the Thai capital market, he added.