Thai Baht Climbs From 15-Month Low on Intervention Speculation
Thailand’s baht rose, rebounding from a 15-month low, on speculation the central bank sold dollars.
The currency snapped a five-day drop as Asian stocks (MXAP) pared losses after business confidence in Germany improved, spurring optimism economic growth in Europe will withstand the region’s debt crisis. Thai government bonds were steady as “foreign investors may be frontloading bond purchases because the central bank could lower interest rates to help support growth after the recent floods,” according to Enrico Tanuwidjaja, a currency analyst in Singapore at Malayan Banking Bhd.
“There’re reasons to believe the central bank has intervened in the currency market to stem losses in the baht,” said Frances Cheung, a senior strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. “There’s also optimism that money will flow into the country when rebuilding starts after the flood waters recede.”
The baht advanced 0.2 percent to 31.26 per dollar as of 4:25 p.m. in Bangkok, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency has depreciated 1.7 percent this month and touched 31.43 today, the weakest level since August 2010.
The yield on the 3.65 percent bonds due December 2021 was little changed at 3.432 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The one-year onshore interest-rate swap, the fixed cost needed to receive a floating payment, declined five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 2.68 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Wong in Taipei at awong268@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net
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