Thai stocks inched up 0.08% on Friday in cautious trade as investors awaited clearer direction from policymakers about the baht and interest rates.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index rose 1.36 points to close at 1,622.48, an increase of 2.7% from the previous Friday's close of 1,578.95. Turnover was 50.63 billion baht, with 10.52 billion shares traded.
The local market is up 16.6% from the end of 2012.
Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong on Friday turned up the heat on the central bank, saying an interest rate cut of a quarter percentage point from 2.75% would not be enough to keep the baht in check. A bigger rate cut as well as some kind of capital controls may be needed, he said.
The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee is not scheduled to meet until May 29.
Foreign investors were net buyers on Friday of 2.4 billion baht worth of Thai shares. Local institutions were net sellers of 118.78 million baht, brokers sold 128.45 million, and individual investors were net sellers of 2.16 billion baht.
For the month to date, foreign investors have bought 117.88 million baht more in Thai shares than they have sold. For the year to date, they have been net sellers of 15.44 billion baht.
In world markets Japan's benchmark index surged after the dollar hit a four-year high against the yen. Markets elsewhere gained as traders digested a positive US jobs report.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo jumped 2.9% to close at 14,607.54, its highest level since January 2008, after the dollar traded above 100 yen for the first time in more than four years.
European stocks rose in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.4%, Germany's DAX rose 0.8%, and France's CAC-40 advanced 0.7%. Wall Street appeared poised for gains with Dow Jones futures up 0.2% ahead of the market opening.
While Tokyo rose, South Korea's Kospi plummeted 1.8% to 1,944.75 amid jitters over competition with Japan, whose weakened currency puts South Korean exporters at a disadvantage.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5% to 23,321.22. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 5,206.10. Benchmarks in the Philippines and Singapore also rose while those in Taiwan and Malaysia fell.
In Bangkok, the SET50 index of blue chips ended at 1,076.13 points, up 0.18 points, with total trade value of 31.56 billion baht. The SETHD index of high-dividend shares rose 8.29 points to 1,281.86, with turnover of 10.47billion baht. The Market for Alternative Investment slipped 2.43 points to 497.38, with transaction value of 1.78 billion baht.
The five most active shares by value were PTTEP, rising 5.50 baht to 164 on reports that it plans to invest in shale gas exploration in North America; Advanced Info Service (ADVANC), down 2 baht to 287; the 7-Eleven operator CPALL, down 50 satang to 41 baht; INTUCH, unchanged at 88.50; and PTT, up 2 baht to 340.
In the currency markets, the baht had its biggest one-day decline since January 2007 as speculation increased that the Bank of Thailand will cut interest rates to curb inflows into local bonds that have driven the exchange rate to a 16-year high.
The baht was trading late Friday in Bangkok around 29.74 per dollar, compared with 29.42/44 on Thursday and 29.56/62 a week earlier.
Monetary Policy Committee members will meet on Monday with other government agencies to discuss the currency market, Mr Kittiratt said on Friday.
South Korea, Australia, India and Vietnam have all cut rates this month, while the Bank of Thailand kept its rates steady, the minister noted.
"The baht fluctuates based on what officials have been saying and Kittiratt's comment moved it today," said Disawat Tiaowvanich, a foreign-exchange trader at Bangkok Bank.
"Rate cuts by central banks in Asia also put pressure on the Bank of Thailand to follow suit. Speculation of a rate cut in Thailand is growing."
Most Asian currencies fell versus the dollar on Friday as the Japanese yen breached the 101 level for the first time since 2009.
"Concerns about measures to stem currency gains, whether its intervention, a rate cut or capital controls, are keeping some depreciation pressure on the baht," said Yuji Kameoka, chief currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.
Thailand's benchmark interest rate of 2.75% compares with a maximum of 0.25% in the US and 0.1% in Japan. It is still lower than Indonesia's 5.75%, the Philippines' 3.5% and Malaysia's 3%.
"The central bank is ready to review interest rates should currency appreciation threaten to hurt the economy," it said in a statement on its website on Friday.