Thailand's government bonds rose, pushing the two-year yield to the lowest level this week, after foreign funds seeking higher returns pumped money into the securities. The baht was steady.
International investors purchased US$264 million more sovereign notes than they sold in the first three days of this week, according to Thai Bond Market Association data. Thailand’s 10-year bonds yield 3.47%, compared with 1.59% for similar-maturity Treasuries and 0.76% for Japanese debt. Overseas funds sold a net $201 million of Thai equities this week through on Friday, exchange data show.
"Risk sentiment is not that strong to the point where investors are aggressively taking risks, so bonds attract more funds than stocks," said Kozo Hasegawa, a Bangkok-based foreign-exchange trader at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. "Thai bonds still offer higher yields relative to those from developed nations."
The yield on the 5.25% notes due May 2014 fell one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 2.81% as of 8.31am in Bangkok, the lowest level since Nov 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The baht traded at 30.70 per dollar, the same as Wednesday's closing level, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. One-month implied volatility, a measure of exchange- rate swings used to price options, held at 4.27%.