Thai Baht dips after central bank action

The Thai baht fell on Thursday following a suspected dollar-buying intervention by the central bank, while the Chinese yuan hit a post-revaluation peak as policy makers kept up efforts to rein in inflation.

Other Asian currencies were mostly range-bound in thin trade ahead of the year-end.

The baht briefly touched 33.87 per dollar onshore, down about half of a percent from late Asian trade on Wednesday, as dealers cited efforts by the central bank to boost the dollar.

"The Bank of Thailand is pushing the dollar up - they have been buying a lot, from 33.70 up to 33.87," said a trader in Bangkok.

The central bank frequently steps in the foreign exchange market to check the baht's gains and help local exporters.

Some analysts believe last weekend's election will pave the way for a new government with more pro-growth economic polices next year, which should help underpin the baht. Expectations are rising that some of the existing capital controls would be lifted, which would boost the onshore baht.

The Singapore dollar rose as far as 1.4515 per US dollar, up a fifth of a percent from late Asian trade on Wednesday. The Chinese yuan meanwhile, jumped to a post-revaluation high of 7.3131 per dollar at one point, rising about 0.4 percent from Wednesday's close, its biggest one-day gain since the yuan was revalued in July 2005.

A faster rising yuan, which has gained about 6.6 percent this year, would help underpin investor sentiment next year in Asia at a time of heightened concerns over the health of the US economy, analysts say. They expect the Chinese authorities to allow the yuan to rise at a faster clip to contain inflationary pressures in the booming economy.

"Our house view is that the pace of yuan appreciation will accelerate to 7 to 9 percent range in 2008, from 5 to 7 percent (this year)," said Han Sia Yeo, currency strategist at Bank of America.