Thai Foreign-Exchange Trading Seen Easing From Two-Year High
- Thai asset inflows resume as 2015 Fed rate-hike bets fade
- Scramble for dollars peaked with baht at 35-36: Kasikornbank
The rush to buy foreign exchange in Thailand that pushed trading volumes to a two-year high should subside as fading bets for U.S. monetary tightening in 2015 bring stability to the baht, says Kasikornbank Pcl.
The currency has rallied 1.9 percent from a nine-year low of 36.67 a dollar on Oct. 2 as futures traders pencil in March 2016 as more likely for a Federal Reserve rate hike. Foreign-currency trading by commercial banks in Thailand, including spot, swaps and options, rose to $252.5 billion in August, the most since January 2013, according to the latest central bank figures. Importers and some international investors had been “scrambling for dollars” after the exchange rate breached 35-36, said Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital markets research at Kasikornbank.