Baht strengthens against dollar as SET passes through 1,800

BANGKOK, Jan 6 (TNA) -- The Thai baht has kept on strengthening against the US dollar while the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index has passed through the 1,800 point for the first time since its establishment in 1975. On Friday, the baht closed at 32.22 against the dollar while the SET index was able to exceed the strong 1,800-pont during trading. The SET index, however, softened to 1,795.45-point at the closing. They reflected the strong Thai economy after several years of political turbulence in the country in the past few years. Mathee Supapongse, deputy governor of Bank of Thailand (BoT), said that the baht is now moving in line with other regional currencies and it is predicted that the greenback is softening since the beginning of this week because of capital inflows into Asian stock and bond markets presently. Assuring that the BoT would intervene the market, Mr Mathee said the private sector should also guard themselves against the risks such as forex hedging, using other regional currencies instead of the dollar in payment settlement or opening Foreign Currency Deposit Account. (TNA)