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Baht likely to react to Middle East situation, Thai budget debate

Baht likely to react to Middle East situation, Thai budget debate

‭Tensions in the Middle East after a US strike killed a top Iranian commander and‬‬ the budget debate will influence the value of the baht this week, says Kasikornbank (KBank).‬‬

Exporters to meet BOT chief to voice concerns over baht's appreciation

‭‭The baht reversed gains and weakened against the US dollar‭ in the ‬‬first two trading days of the year, but it continued to be traded in a narrow range. The Bank of Thailand signalled that it was closely monitoring the baht's movement after it broke Bt30 to the US dollar to hit a six-and-a-half-year high of Bt29.75 amid thin trading volumes during the last ‬days of 2019. In addition, the weakening regional currencies weighed down the baht sentiment later in the week. On ‭Friday, ‭ ‬(January ‬3), the baht ‬closed ‬at ‭Bt30.16/USD versus the Bt30.15/USD reported on Friday (December 27, 2019). ‬
‭During the week of January 6-‭10‬, KBank expects the baht to move within a range of Bt3‭0-‭30.‬30/USD.‭ A key domestic factor to be ‬monitored closely ‭is ‬the debate on the 2020 Budget Bill in the Thai parliament. External factors will include issues in‬ ‭the ‬next phase ‭of ‬the ‬US‭-China trade talks after the signing of ‭the‬ first phase agreement, the Middle East tensions, the UK parliament‭’s‬ consideration of the Brexit deal, and ‬Chinese economic data for‬ ‭December. The ‭US ‬economic ‬data ‭to be ‭ ‬released during ‭the week ‬include ‭ ‬December ‭non-farm payrolls data, unemployment rate, ADP employment report, and the purchase managers' index and ISM non-manufacturing surveys, as well as the November factory goods orders data.

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