|
|
| • EXCH RATES |
|
Baht/$ 34.45/50 (Bid/Ask)
|
GOLD |
13,150
|
|
IN Brief
TOURISM :China's chief tourism body has warned against travelling to Thailand after the state of emergency was declared in Bangkok.
"We advise Chinese tourists who have recently planned to go to Thailand to postpone their departure," China's national tourism bureau said on its website on Tuesday.
It also advised Chinese travellers currently in Thailand to respect the country's rules, and to avoid going to areas of demonstrations.
Several countries have warned their citizens about travel to Thailand. To date, they include New Zealand, Denmark, France, Sweden, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Canada, Australia, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Norway and Belgium.
-
Koreans worried
TOURISM :South Korean tour agents reported a setback in their booming business with Thailand, after the Seoul government issued a travel warning due to the country's political turmoil.
Travel agencies said South Korean tourists began cancelling trips to Thailand since the government issued the warning Tuesday.
"If there were 10 tourists who had booked for Thailand, one or two of them have already cancelled their ticket," said Cho Woo-Sung, a director of Hana Tour.
"Instead, we are receiving many calls who want to change destination from Bangkok to elsewhere like Saipan or Manila."
Korean Air said yesterday it would not charge penalties to tourists who cancelled trips to Bangkok, if the flight tickets were valid until Sept 10.
-
SCB sites reopen
BANKING :Siam Commercial Bank said yesterday that it had reopened all Bangkok branches for normal operations.
The bank had closed a number of bank offices, branches, sub-branches and foreign-exchange booths on Tuesday after the declaration by the government of a state of emergency in the capital following violent clashes between the People's Alliance for Democracy and pro-government supporters.
-
Baht may hit 35.50
CURRENCY :The baht may slide another 2.9% this year on capital outflows in light of the prevailing state of emergency, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The currency is likely to fall to 35.50 per dollar by year-end, compared with a previous estimate of 35, as the "drastic swing and rate of deterioration" in outflows weaken the baht, JPMorgan said in a research note yesterday.
"Risks to this forecast are to the upside given the vulnerability of the baht to equity outflows and the notable second quarter deterioration in the balance of payments," Singapore-based currency strategists Claudio Piron and Yen Ping Ho wrote.
Global funds have pulled $3.2 billion from the Thai stock market this year, according to Bloomberg data.
The Bank of Thailand intervened on Tuesday in the markets but Tetsuo Yoshikoshi, a Singapore-based analyst at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp said yesterday, "I don't think the currency has stabilised. Even after the suspected intervention, the dollar-baht pair has been bid quite nervously."
The baht closed yesterday at 34.45, unchanged from Tuesday. It will end the year at 34.80, according to the median of 16 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.BLOOMBERG
-
Discovery on track
TRAVEL :PK Exhibition and Management said yesterday that the 13th Discovery Thailand 2008 and Discovery World 2008 travel fair would ho ahead as planned. The event is scheduled to open today and run through Sunday at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Next
