The baht opened at 31.11 to the US dollar on Monday morning (August 17), unchanged from Friday’s close.
The Thai currency is expected to move between 31 and 31.20 on Monday and between 30.85 and 31.35 this week, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, head of Markets Strategy at SCB Securities.
The strategist said that the baht situation in the short term depended on the Thai gross domestic product (GDP) to be announced on Monday.
He explained that if the GDP contraction was more than expected, the market would speculate on the currency since the baht could be affected by the GDP.
This week, the strategist advised investors to monitor the US initial jobless claim which could reduce to 960,000 positions.
He said the US economic sector has started to create more jobs, though the total unemployed people in the country was still high compared to others.
In the financial market, the dollar index would be supported by the increasing US Ten-Year Treasury yield.
Besides, the market could be in risk-on state after a trade deal between the US and China could not be concluded over the weekend.
The strategist added that another factor to move the market this week was the recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday, in which the average inflation targeting and yield curve control will be discussed.
