Thai Baht Poised for Fourth Weekly Gain as Global Stocks Rally

By Shanthy Nambiar

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s baht headed for a fourth weekly advance against the dollar as a rally in global stocks boosted demand for emerging-market assets.

The currency traded near a five-week high as overseas investors bought $82 million more Thai shares than they sold in the four days through yesterday. Bank of Thailand Deputy Governor Atchana Waiquamdee yesterday said the baht, along with regional currencies, is rising “by default” because of the weakness of the dollar.

“There are inflows into the stock market,” said Chutima Nuphan, a foreign-exchange trader at TMB Bank Pcl in Bangkok. “The baht is also following some of the regional currencies higher as the dollar weakens. It now really depends on the performance of the stock market.”

The baht climbed 0.3 percent this week to 35.29 per dollar as of 10:41 a.m. in Bangkok, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency has gained 2.4 percent this month, paring this year’s loss to 1.7 percent.

The Bank of Thailand has “no preference for the baht to be weak or strong,” Atchana said. “We monitor the baht to make sure it doesn’t overshoot or undershoot regional currencies and affect our competitiveness.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional stocks climbed 7.8 percent this week, the biggest increase in seven years. The SET Index of Thai stocks rose 2.2 percent this week, its biggest weekly advance since December.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shanthy Nambiar in Bangkok at snambiar1@bloomberg.net