According to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Thailand’s central bank and finance ministry are in talks over a potential new tax on online gold trading conducted in baht.
The proposal is being considered as a measure to curb the appreciation of the Thai currency, which has shown signs of strengthening in recent months.
Should the tax move forward and receive an official announcement from authorities, Phillip Securities believes this could temper further gains in the baht. Such a development would also offer a positive sentiment for export and tourism-related stocks, which stand to benefit from a weaker local currency.
Stocks best positioned to gain include export-oriented names such as CCET, DELTA, GFPT, KCE, ITC, SAT, STA, and TU, along with tourism operators including AWC, BA, CENTEL, and ERW.
Notably, the baht was weakened to 31.74 against the U.S. dollar at 0623 GMT, following its climb to a more than four-year peak of 31.57 last week. This came after reports on the potential tax.
Year to date, the Thai currency has strengthened 7.9%, ranking as Asia’s second-best performer, trailing only Taiwan’s dollar.
