Thai baht and Taiwan dollar tussle for supremacy in Asia

SINGAPORE: Emerging Asia’s top-performing currency in 2019 may find itself dethroned this year by a rival that’s also armed with a strong current-account surplus.

Both the Thai baht, which took the regional crown with a 9% gain last year versus the U.S. dollar, and the Taiwanese dollar climbed above the psychologically significant 30-per-dollar level this week. Scotiabank, among the top forecasters for Thailand’s currency last year, recommends investors place long bets on the Taiwan dollar and use the baht to fund the purchase.