CNY/THB - Live Converters & Chart

Chinese Yuan (CNY) outlook

Increasingly, the yuan is being used as a barometer for progress made on US-China trade talks. For that reason, it fell sharply in the weeks leading up to this report (May-17).

Trade tensions were ramped up in May after President Trump announced higher tariffs on Chinese goods, after China retaliated with tariffs of its own, and then after Trump placed Huawei on the "entity list," thereby making it impossible for the tech giant to do business with US firms.

Between May-6 and May-17, the yuan weakened in the offshore market by 3 percent (a considerable amount for a government-controlled currency) to a 5-month low of 6.95 per USD. Onshore yuan, which is more easily controlled by the PBOC, reached towards 6.92.

All eyes now are on the 7.0 exchange rate. Will the PBOC allow the yuan beyond that? An RBC strategist believes that’s unlikely in the short term because a weaker yuan would create more friction between China and the US. Trump often alleges that China purposefully weakens its currency to gain a trade advantage.

“A rapid conclusion to the US–China trade deal and … complete rollback of tariffs ... would be an effective catalyst to drive RMB higher,” Citibank said.

Thai Baht (THB) outlook

Recent years have been extremely kind to the baht, although not so kind to Thailand’s exporters. At various points in 2019, against the Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and British pound, the baht has traded at its highest level in a decade or longer.

The baht’s year-to-date gain of 1.7 percent against the US dollar (to March-28) puts the baht among the year’s best performing currencies.

In March, per a Reuters currency positioning poll, FX traders were increasing their bets on Thai baht appreciation.

The chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations predicted earlier this year that the baht would continue to appreciate over the medium to long term as capital flows return to Thailand in the face of a more gradual rise in US interest rates and as the US economy slows down.

The CNY/THB mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news, nobody except the largest banks and businesses can get exchange rates close to this mid-rate. It is actually just the theoretical half-way point (hence mid-rate) between the last rate at which the CNY / THB was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.