The baht slipped past 36 to the US dollar yesterday as the deadly attacks in Paris overshadowed Thailand's stronger-than-expected economic growth in the third quarter.
Thai shares managed to turn around in the afternoon session, while gold climbed higher as investors sought safe assets after the attacks. Bullion rose 100 baht per baht-weight to 18,550 baht when gold dealers bought the precious metal from investors and to 18,650 baht when the former sold to the latter.
The baht yesterday was at one point quoted at 36.041 to the dollar versus last Friday's 35.908.
South Korea's won hit a six-week low on continuous foreign stock selling, while Indonesia's rupiah fell to its weakest level in nearly four weeks on disappointing October exports and imports data.
The won weakened by 0.9% to the dollar and the rupiah 0.5%.
One foreign exchange dealer said the baht's pullback was due to concerns about the global economy in the wake of the Paris attacks, reflected in a dip in regional stock markets yesterday morning.
But the baht had stabilised by midday, indicating financial markets' concerns had eased to a certain degree.
"Thailand's latest GDP announcement is better than expected but has not affected the baht that much, as seen by the currency's weakening trend," the dealer said.
Financial markets will keep a close watch on developments including the US Federal Reserve's minutes set to be released tomorrow, non-farm payrolls and retail sales data, the dealer said.
The baht is expected to move within a range of 35.85-36.15 against the greenback this week, while its year-end value could slide to above 36 or even 37, depending on the US economic data and the Fed's rate decision in mid-December, the source added.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index headed south to a low of 1,368.79 points before erasing early losses. It closed up 0.45% to 1,388.62 points in moderate turnover of 35.8 billion baht.
SET executive vice-president Santi Kiranand said the Paris attacks would have only a short-term effect here, as such attacks did not spill over to other countries and the bourse fundamentals remained unchanged.