USD/THB ends steady at 33.97-33.99 vs 33.98 last close. Foreign players buy but overall trade fairly thin amid absence of fresh catalysts, plus players want to avoid holding positions over weekend. “There’s nothing new to drive the market. The dollar/baht should hover around this level for quite a while,” says local dealer. Central bank’s downward revision to 2009 GDP but bullish stance on 2010 economy was widely expected, thus had little impact on market. Resistance tipped at 34.10, support at 33.80.
The Philippine government is considering funding its 2010 offshore borrowing requirements this year. That makes a lot of sense with interest rates likely to raise and the country facing political risk as a May election looms.
“If you can’t wait until the second half of next year, why not prefund now?,”
said Rafael Algarra, treasurer at Security Bank Corp. in Manila. “And even if
you could wait to take the uncertainty of the election out of the equation,
interest rates might be going up by then.” Read the rest of this entry »
Thai shares end up 0.3% at 614.24 in moderate trade.
Rises in regional markets, trading volume on local bourse not strong enough to push benchmark through 618 stiff resistance. With central bank more bullish about 2010 economy, positive sentiment likely to help SET Index extend gains Monday, says Capital Nomura Securities’ strategist Chai Chirasevenupraphand. “Investors are likely to anticipate (an improvement) in earnings of industria sectors. Most analysts share the similar view that energy, construction and property sectors will show positive results.” Resistance tipped in 625-630 zone. Support put at 605-608 area. Among top actives, PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP.TH) +0.7% at THB139, PTT (PTT.TH) +0.4% at THB233, PTT Aromatics & Refining (PTTAR.TH) +0.5% at THB19.80, Banpu (BANPU.TH) +0.3% at THB337.