Thai baht weakest in eight months

BANGOKK, June 12 (TNA) - The value of the Thai baht has now become the weakest in eight months, as outflows of short-term capitals have relieved the strong Thai currency since early this year. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong told journalists on Wednesday that the capital outflows and the decline in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index recently, in line with the indices of other stock exchanges in the region, resulted partly from reduced money injections in the United States and profit-taking. Kittirat acknowledged that the capital outflows have relieved concerns over the baht value and the implementation of other measures to handle the baht value appear to be, thus, unnecessary for the time being, warning, however, that concerned parties keep monitoring the global situation closely. A money manager at Bangkok-based Bank of Ayudhya said that the baht value has reached its lowest level in eight months, or from October 2012, at 31.03-31.05 baht a US dollars, down from Tuesday’s closing rate of 30.94-30.97 baht a US dollar, assessing that the baht value is expected to range from 30.90 to 31.08 baht a US dollar on Wednesday due to the movements of other currencies and stock exchanges in the region, as well as the stronger value of the US dollar. (TNA)