Thai Baht Slumps to One-Year Low, Stocks Decline on Recession
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Thailand’s baht slumped to a one-year low and stocks dropped after Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy entered a recession for the first time since 2009. Government bonds were little changed.
Gross domestic product unexpectedly decreased 0.3 percent in the three months through June from the previous quarter, when it contracted a revised 1.7 percent, the National Economic & Social Development Board said yesterday. The agency cut its 2013 expansion forecast to 3.8 percent to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent to 5.2 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares fell for a fourth day amid speculation the Federal Reserve will pare stimulus that inflated emerging-market asset prices.