Thai stocks, baht advance after voters defy protesters

[BANGKOK] Thailand's baht rose the most in three weeks yesterday and stocks gained after voters defied protesters' efforts to disrupt polls and cast ballots across 90 per cent of the country on Sunday without triggering major violence.

The currency strengthened 0.2 per cent - the most since Jan 14 - to 32.945 per US dollar at 5pm yesterday in Bangkok, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The baht fell every day last week, declining 0.6 per cent. The SET Index of shares climbed 1.5 per cent - the biggest gain since Jan 16 - to 1,292.81, following last week's 3.1 per cent drop.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she was pleased with the situation because there was no violence, after polls closed at 3pm local time on Sunday. She deployed 10,000 police in Bangkok, having declared a state of emergency to avoid a repeat of the disturbances that obstructed advance voting in the south and most of the capital on Jan 26. Global funds have pulled a net US$4.7 billion from the nation's bonds and stocks since the protests began last Oct 31, official data shows.