USD/THB: Thai Baht drops 1% on central bank intervention

Thailand Baht has taken a hit reportedly due to central bank intervention.
Baht has registered its biggest decline since 2007.

Omkar Godbole FXStreet Contributor

Thai Baht (THB) has dropped by more than 1%, pushing USD/THB pair higher to 30.106 reportedly due to central bank intervention.

The currency pair traded at 30.226 in Asia. At that level, THB was down close to 1.8% - the biggest decline since 2007.

“It’s likely to be central bank intervention given that the central bank has mentioned that they’ll be fighting against baht strength,” said Mingze Wu, a foreign-exchange trader at INTL FCStone in Singapore, according to Bloomberg.

The Baht had surged to a six-year high of 29.718 earlier this week. The surge was associated with low liquidity and market imbalance by Thailand's central bank.

The currency gained almost 9% in 2019 on haven demand. Markets treat THB as an anti-risk currency as it is backed by current account surplus.

Author

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

EUR/USD steadies near 1.1650 ahead of US Nonfarm Payrolls

EUR/USD holds ground after five days of losses, trading around 1.1650 during the Asian hours on Friday. Traders remain cautious ahead of the US Nonfarm Payrolls report, which is expected to offer further insight into labor market conditions and the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook. December NFP is forecast to show job gains of 60,000, down from 64,000 in November.

GBP/USD: Further weakness could challenge 1.3400

GBP/USD remains under unabated selling pressure on Thursday, slipping to fresh three-day lows around 1.3415 in response to further improvement in the sentiment surrounding the Greenback ahead of Friday’s key NFP data.

Gold defends $4,450, looks to the crucial US NFP report

Gold struggles to capitalize on the previous day's goodish move up from the vicinity of the $4,400 mark and attracts some sellers while defending $4,450 in the Asian session on Friday. The critical US employment details will offer more cues about the Fed's rate-cut path, which, in turn, will influence the US Dollar price dynamics and provide a fresh impetus to the non-yielding bullion.

Forecasts for Payrolls are all over the place

Yesterday’s data put the kybosh on the idea the Fed needs to cut rates fairly urgently to protect the labor market. The jobs component of the ISM services index was nicely over 50, and that rising JOLTS voluntary quits rate also points to no real heartache in labor.

2026 economic outlook: Clear skies but don’t unfasten your seatbelts yet

Most years fade into the background as soon as a new one starts. Not 2025: a year of epochal shifts, in which the macroeconomy was the dog that did not bark. What to expect in 2026? The shocks of 2025 will not be undone, but neither will they be repeated.

XRP slides as institutional and retail demand falters

Ripple is trading down for the third consecutive day on Thursday amid escalating volatility in the cyrptocurrency market. After peaking at $2.41 on Tuesday, its highest print since November 14 amid the early-year rally, XRP has quickly ran into aggressive profit-taking.