Baht’s Sudden Drop in the New Year Shows Battle Lines Drawn

Baht’s gains from earlier in the week erased in one morning
Bank of Thailand says liquidity in currency market normalizing

WATCH: The Bank of Thailand is considering implementing more measures if necessary on the currency.(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Marcus Wong and Chester Yung

January 1, 2020 at 9:00 PM UTC

Updated on

January 2, 2020 at 8:32 AM UTC

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The battle over the Thai baht intensified in the new year, with the currency dropping sharply even before domestic markets opened.

The baht plunged as much as 1.8% on Thursday, the biggest decline since 2007, to 30.226 against the dollar in early Asia trading. That almost erased all the gains it made in the past three sessions. The currency was trading at about 30.11 against the dollar as of 8:31 a.m. London time.