Baht Sinks To Lowest Point In A Year

[george]

Baht sinks to lowest point in a year

BANGKOK: -- The baht fell to a one-year low against the US dollar on Tuesday morning shortly after the prime minister declared a state of emergency.

At mid-morning, the currency hit 34.52 against the dollar. By early afternoon, it had sunk to 34.58.

The bottom also fell out of the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

At the midday break, the SET Index had dropped 12.21 points to 663.01.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-09-02

[george]

Central bank fails to halt baht drop

BANGKOK:_ -- The baht fell to a one-year low against the US dollar on Tuesday morning shortly after the prime minister declared a state of emergency, even though the Bank of Thailand intervened in the foreign exchange market.

BoT deputy governor on fiscal policy Ajana Waikwamdee said the central bank began inervening right after the declaration of a state of emergency.

She said the currency was "fluctuating", meaning falling.

At mid-morning, the currency hit 34.52 against the dollar. By early afternoon, it had sunk to 34.58 as the BoT continued to pour foreign reserves in to try to stop the market.

Mrs Ajana said she had not seen any "massive foreign capital outflow" and said it is not yet necessary to set up a capital reserve fund.

The bottom also fell out of the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

At the midday break, the SET Index had dropped 12.21 points to 663.01.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-09-02

[george]

Thai shares plunge at investor concern over political turmoil

BANGKOK: -- The Stock Exchange of Thailand plummeted by more than 14 points at the opening of Tuesday’s morning trading session since investors sold stocks across the board in response to concerns over Thailand's political situation after the government’s declaration of a State of Emergency in the capital.

The SET composite index opened lower immediately by 14.65 to 660.57 points before recouping its loss to close at 663.01 points, down 12.21 or 1.81 per cent with a thin trading value of 4.72 billion baht, in the morning trading session.

SET president Patareeya Benjapolchai revealed she had met with other executives in the morning upon acknowledgement of the government’s declaration of the decree to closely monitor the situation.

She had also discussed with SET chairman Pakorn Malakul Na Ayudhya a possible need to convene the board’s meeting.

The SET chief said the exchange had a measure to ease investor panic if the market plunged more than it should be.

For instance, the securities trading would be halted for 30 minutes under the automatic circuit breaker system if the index plummeted more than 10 per cent.

However, the index had not yet plunged deeply as many concerned, she said.

Ronnakit Sarinwong, vice president of Adkinson Securities Plc’s Stock Analysis Divisioin, said the Thai stock market remained in the downward trend since no one knew when the political confrontation would end.

Under the circumstances, he said, investors, particularly from abroad, opted to continue their wait-and-see attitude on investments.

Since the People’s Alliance for Democracy-led protesters began holding anti-government rallies, the SET index had dropped by over 100 points or 22 per cent from 810 to around 660 points.

-- TNA 2008-09-02

[medegen]

I saw the article before it said they are trying to stop it from dropping and then the next one said they failed at stopping it so who knows how far it will drop.

[lannarebirth]

I saw the article before it said they are trying to stop it from dropping and then the next one said they failed at stopping it so who knows how far it will drop.

Thai Baht charts are really messed up due to offshore/onshore nonsense. I see pretty strong resistance in high 37's- low 38's, but that's a pretty rough guess.

[ilyushin]

I see the baht leveling off at 36/$ once the current issue is over and done with.

[wasabi]

I can't see any reason for the Baht to be over 40:1 in what ways has The Thai economy strengthened since it was at that level? And the US is recovering as shown by falling oil and the GDP growth.

[britmaveric]

40-42 range is coming!!!!

[wasabi]

I can't see any reason for the Baht to be over 40:1 in what ways has The Thai economy strengthened since it was at that level? And the US is recovering as shown by falling oil and the GDP growth.

I meant under.

[NotNew2You]

Baht sinks to lowest point in a year

At mid-morning, the currency hit 34.52 against the dollar. By early afternoon, it had sunk to 34.58.

[LaoPo]

Thai shares plunge at investor concern over political turmoil

................. the SET index had dropped by over 100 points or 22 per cent from 810 to around 660 points.

-- TNA 2008-09-02

Actually the SET dropped -25,5% since the high of this year (884) and -28% since the all time high of 915, last year October 29th 2007.

The confidence some larger foreign investors still must have had a few months ago has vanished. Investors from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and the US, EU and Australia will think three, instead two, times before investing substantial amounts in this Banana Republic...

They not just look at a strong (their own) currency but above all for political stability.

And THAT is something Thailand is not able to offer.

LaoPo

[Guest Bellini]

Not so long ago the Bank of Thailand intervened in the currency market to prevent the Baht from getting too strong and they failed. Now that it is weakening a little, they are again unhappy. I really can't understand them.

[lannarebirth]

Not so long ago the Bank of Thailand intervened in the currency market to prevent the Baht from getting too strong and they failed. Now that it is weakening a little, they are again unhappy. I really can't understand them.

What if you were able to understand them; would that change anything?

[Naam]

Not so long ago the Bank of Thailand intervened in the currency market to prevent the Baht from getting too strong and they failed. Now that it is weakening a little, they are again unhappy. I really can't understand them.

they told you that they are unhappy?

[cloudhopper]

Not so long ago the Bank of Thailand intervened in the currency market to prevent the Baht from getting too strong and they failed. Now that it is weakening a little, they are again unhappy. I really can't understand them.

What if you were able to understand them; would that change anything?

Quite possibly not. You appear to be a very knowledgeable and successful technical analyst and trader but I don't understand why you seem to be so dismissive of those who would like to gain a more academic understanding of the underlying economic principles involved.

[lannarebirth]

Not so long ago the Bank of Thailand intervened in the currency market to prevent the Baht from getting too strong and they failed. Now that it is weakening a little, they are again unhappy. I really can't understand them.

What if you were able to understand them; would that change anything?

Quite possibly not. You appear to be a very knowledgeable and successful technical analyst and trader but I don't understand why you seem to be so dismissive of those who would like to gain a more academic understanding of the underlying economic principles involved.

Because news, even if it's accurate, which most of it isn't, bears no relation to price. Organizations release news to "manage" expectations, and media release it to sell adspace. It is much easier to believe what you see in price action than whatever "todays reason" for what is occuring is.

As far as economics goes, with regard to currencies. High interest rates good, low national debt good, growing economy good, high national savings good. You can have all that but your currency may still plunge.

It is our own conceit that has us believe that we can figure it all out, when often price is unrelated to any data we ever look at. Stock markets for example move based on open interest in options, yet the news will tell you it was up yesterday on "lower oil prices", which remained lower all day as the market plunged. I guess they gave another bogus reason for that happening.

I didn't mean to sound disparaging, but I hate to see people buy into any media generated nonsense.