Baht Rises To Strongest Level In Decade

[Jai Dee]

Baht rises to strongest level in decade

The Thai baht has appreciated to 34.38-34.39 to the US dollar, its strongest level in almost a decade, in the same direction with other Asian currencies due to a continued inflow of foreign funds into the Stock Exchange of Thailand, according to a Thai money dealer.

A dealer from Kasikornbank Plc said the baht had risen to a new high since the currency was floated in 1997 because Asian currencies had strengthened thanks to an inflow of large foreign capital into Asian stock markets including the SET whose index has surged to a record high in four years.

However, the rise in the baht by 4.5 per cent since early this year remained close to that of other Asian currencies.

For instance, the Malaysian ringgit had appreciated by around 4 per cent, the Indonesian rupiah by 3 per cent, and the Philippine peso by 8 per cent.

On Monday (July 1), the peso broke through the 9,000 level, a new high, before dropping to stabilise at 8,980 to the US dollar.

The dealer said the strengthening of the baht is not cause for overconcern because the currency has been moved by market mechanism, driven by the foreign capital inflows.

Should the foreign funds continue to flow into the country, the baht is likely to further appreciate.

Source: TNA - 03 July 2007

Related link:

Live exchange mid-market rates:

http://baht.thaivisa.com

[cdnvic]

Isn't just about everything appreciating against the US dollar lately? The Baht has been dropping against the Canadian and Australian currencies, so is it more a case of the US dollar being weak than anything?

[eek]

seems pretty strong against the GBP too though. I wired some money from my UK account to BB account and got much less baht for my buck (well pound).

Maybe the pound is depreciating along with the dollar? I guess i could look into it, check out the rates etc, but truth be told though, im really so bad at working that stuff out, and a tad lazy about trying. :S

[bendix]

The baht has certainly been weaking against the Aussie and the Kiwi, but both are those are very strong generally. The Kiwi is at all time highs against the dollar since floating in the early 80s.

Bottom line - the US dollar is weak and getting weaker.

[highdiver]

Isn't just about everything appreciating against the US dollar lately? The Baht has been dropping against the Canadian and Australian currencies, so is it more a case of the US dollar being weak than anything?

absolutly right!!!

it seems westerners have more confidence in the Asian curencies.

[rainman]

[astral]

Bottom line - the US dollar is weak and getting weaker.

Exactly........................

Nothing to do with Asian currencies really.

[siamaloha]

Baht rises to strongest level in decade

The Thai baht has appreciated to 34.38-34.39 to the US dollar

I still don't understand the difference between this rate and rate quoted by xe dot com

"XE.com's Currency Update Service writes: THB Thailand Baht 31.7498599384/USD"

...something about onshore/offshore? Can someone enlighten me?

btw, according to MarketWatch dot com today:

BULLETIN >> British pound touches 26-year high against U.S. dollar: $2.0146

[cdnvic]

Yahoo finance is still showing under 32 Baht/USD

[LPCustom69]

Nothing really seems to affect the baht anymore. Corruption, coups, political uncertainty, low tourism figures etc. I understand that the US$ is weak, but it seems to be performing decently against most currencies.

Baht rises to strongest level in decade

The Thai baht has appreciated to 34.38-34.39 to the US dollar, its strongest level in almost a decade, in the same direction with other Asian currencies due to a continued inflow of foreign funds into the Stock Exchange of Thailand, according to a Thai money dealer.

A dealer from Kasikornbank Plc said the baht had risen to a new high since the currency was floated in 1997 because Asian currencies had strengthened thanks to an inflow of large foreign capital into Asian stock markets including the SET whose index has surged to a record high in four years.

However, the rise in the baht by 4.5 per cent since early this year remained close to that of other Asian currencies.

For instance, the Malaysian ringgit had appreciated by around 4 per cent, the Indonesian rupiah by 3 per cent, and the Philippine peso by 8 per cent.

On Monday (July 1), the peso broke through the 9,000 level, a new high, before dropping to stabilise at 8,980 to the US dollar.

The dealer said the strengthening of the baht is not cause for overconcern because the currency has been moved by market mechanism, driven by the foreign capital inflows.

Should the foreign funds continue to flow into the country, the baht is likely to further appreciate.

Source: TNA - 03 July 2007

Related link:

Live exchange mid-market rates:

http://baht.thaivisa.com

[john b good]

seems pretty strong against the GBP too though. I wired some money from my UK account to BB account and got much less baht for my buck (well pound).

Maybe the pound is depreciating along with the dollar? I guess i could look into it, check out the rates etc, but truth be told though, im really so bad at working that stuff out, and a tad lazy about trying. :S

go to www.xe.com/ucc it's all very simple. All currencies are available.

[chinthee]

The one my company uses for expense reporting:

Oanda

Currently showing interbank rate at: 32.05236 for USD/Baht

[Loz]

Its almost like we can't wait to see the @rse fall out of the US economy... Almost...

I love it when there are 2 dollars to the pound, makes conversion easier and it reminds me of when I were a lad up in't north!

them were some grand days...

Loz

[sonicdragon]

The one my company uses for expense reporting:

Oanda

Currently showing interbank rate at: 32.05236 for USD/Baht

That's the offshore rate.

[skellaz]

Live rates at 2007.07.03 06:39:16 UTC

20,000.00 THB

=

311.926 GBP

Thailand Baht United Kingdom Pounds 1 THB = 0.0155963 GBP 1 GBP = 64.1179 THB

The usual visit to thai atm!!!

Edited July 3, 2007 by skellaz

[midas]

Its almost like we can't wait to see the @rse fall out of the US economy... Almost...

I love it when there are 2 dollars to the pound, makes conversion easier and it reminds me of when I were a lad up in't north!

them were some grand days...

Loz

Yes but if if goes too far there could be a very dark side to all this

[chinthee]

Its almost like we can't wait to see the @rse fall out of the US economy... Almost...

I love it when there are 2 dollars to the pound, makes conversion easier and it reminds me of when I were a lad up in't north!

them were some grand days...

Loz

Yes but if if goes too far there could be a very dark side to all this

Extremely dark. Exports to the US would dry up too.

[mikederson]

Yes, can someone PLEASE explain why on the Foreign Exchange Market the Baht is trading at 31.7 to the US Dollar??

That is the rate that credit cards use. For instance, even though this article says the rate is 34, if I charge something on my US credit card, it is converted at 31.7 (then, there is an additional 3% conversion charge). I believe the same happens if I withdraw money from my US account at an ATM here.

It's freaking killing me!

[Guest madcow]

Holy Cow ... 17 posts and 673 reading . Must be some very worried yanks in Thailand !

[chinthee]

Let's bring it down to real terms for American Pensioners retired in Thailand. Roughly speaking, let's examine the effects on many in Thailand. Not so long ago, when the rate was 40, a retiree with $1500/Mo. had the 60k monthly required to qualify for the retirement visa. (ok, it's 65, but too lazy to do the math)

Today, that would only be worth 48k. So, he has a 12k shortfall, hence no qualifying for renewal of stay. Has to go home or find some other way.

These are the shifting goalposts that worry many fixed income retirees now.

* this is not just a concern for Americans. Anyone else in the world whose pension is denominated even partly in US dollars is affected. And, the US dollar will not be displaced as the world currency for petro dollars anytime soon, etc., so the effects are not limited to Americans.

Edited July 3, 2007 by chinthee

[koheesti]

Yes, can someone PLEASE explain why on the Foreign Exchange Market the Baht is trading at 31.7 to the US Dollar??

That is the rate that credit cards use. For instance, even though this article says the rate is 34, if I charge something on my US credit card, it is converted at 31.7 (then, there is an additional 3% conversion charge). I believe the same happens if I withdraw money from my US account at an ATM here.

It's freaking killing me!

I just got a Captial One card. They don't charge the 3% foreign currency conversion fee. Someone here once posted that Capital One still used Visa and Visa charges the 3%. Well, not sure how they get around it but Capital One deosn't charge the 3%.

[PaulHamon]

Isn't just about everything appreciating against the US dollar lately? The Baht has been dropping against the Canadian and Australian currencies, so is it more a case of the US dollar being weak than anything?

yeah... US Dollar is not the world currency it used to be... I think they should be reporting against the Euro

[RedQualia]

Yes, can someone PLEASE explain why on the Foreign Exchange Market the Baht is trading at 31.7 to the US Dollar??

That is the rate that credit cards use. For instance, even though this article says the rate is 34, if I charge something on my US credit card, it is converted at 31.7 (then, there is an additional 3% conversion charge). I believe the same happens if I withdraw money from my US account at an ATM here.

It's freaking killing me!

Currency traders outside Thailand (banks, cc companies, oanda, et al) are generally much more greedy than those in Thailand. Don't use your out of country credit card in Thailand if you can avoid it. You'll get the crappy offshore exchange rate, as well as a fee from the cc company for the conversion of your money at the crappy rate. And always direct foreign banks to send dollars or whatever to Thailand, and let the banks in muang tai do the conversion. The difference are often around two baht per dollar (for me).

Re: Decline of the dollar: articles abound on the internet actually promoting this as a good idea. The economics department of Yale University is lobbying for it. Rumor has it that it's a deliberate action on the part of the Bush administration, Yale being a university that decided to give this C student a degree.

I defy any non-fabulously wealthy American to find one thing this man has done that's been in their best interest...

[lennart2000]

Live rates at 2007.07.03 06:39:16 UTC

20,000.00 THB

=

311.926 GBP

Thailand Baht United Kingdom Pounds 1 THB = 0.0155963 GBP 1 GBP = 64.1179 THB

The usual visit to thai atm!!!

Sorry but this is not very clever. By using atm the offshore rate of around

64.1 is used. If you asked your bank to TT GBP to your bank account in Thailand the

onshore rate would be used which is around 68.9. You are loosing around 4.8 Baht

for each GBP.

[wilko]

All Asian currencies are strong and th dollar is not. But the baht is nowhere near as strong as other currencies in Asia largely due to the protectionist policies of the current govt and the political limbo the country is in.

I doubt too if the inflow of foreign money is anywhere near as good as the banker claims.

[A_Traveller]

* this is not just a concern for Americans. Anyone else in the world whose pension is denominated even partly in US dollars is affected. And, the US dollar will not be displaced as the world currency for petro dollars anytime soon, etc., so the effects are not limited to Americans.

Accepting this is off-topic, but there is a strong argument that rapprochement with Libya was in part driven by the approaches made to a French bank with a view to creating Petro-Euro accounts as opposed to a Petro-Dollar.

Back to the subject.

Regards

[Soju]

On Monday (July 1), the peso broke through the 9,000 level, a new high, before dropping to stabilise at 8,980 to the US dollar.

The PHP is no where near the 9,000 level. It's about 46 to the USD. I'm guessing they were talking about the Indonesian Rupiah, not the Philippine Peso.

[slim]

Isn't just about everything appreciating against the US dollar lately? The Baht has been dropping against the Canadian and Australian currencies, so is it more a case of the US dollar being weak than anything?

No its not.

The dollar is stronger against the Yen than it has been since February 2003. (It is, however, at near historical weakness against GBP and the Euro)

The baht/GBP exchange rate is just over 68 baht to the GBP which is about average for the last 10 years but against the dollar its been advancing from highs of 52 to its current level, though in January 2000 it was exchanging at 37 baht to the dollar so its not a huge difference.

I still don't understand the difference between this rate and rate quoted by xe dot com

"XE.com's Currency Update Service writes: THB Thailand Baht 31.7498599384/USD"

...something about onshore/offshore? Can someone enlighten me?

I'd disregard XE.COM if you want to know what the current exchange rate is. Its ok to give you a rough idea of how much baht you'll get for USD or GBP but if you want an accurate figure use Bangkok Bank's posted rates.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+Bank/We...es/FX+Rates.htm

At 14:00 on 3rd July you could exchange USD 50 dollar bills for 33.98 baht per dollar (if you had US travelers cheques you can get 34.35 baht).

[Soju]

Isn't just about everything appreciating against the US dollar lately? The Baht has been dropping against the Canadian and Australian currencies, so is it more a case of the US dollar being weak than anything?

No, the Canadian and Australian currencies have been very strong lately, even more than the Thai Baht, thus the Baht is dropping against those currencies but rising against most other major currencies. The US Dollar is weak AND the Thai Baht is strong.

[crocken]

wow over one thousand readers on this post....we all care about the baht so much.