Thailand, meanwhile, is pushing for larger exports of agricultural products to the US.

After the meeting with Ambassador Michael George DeSombre, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said the envoy complimented the Thai government for its proactive measures in tackling the Covid-19 crisis and said his country was ready to back the move of production bases to Thailand.

The ambassador also told Jurin that Washington was willing to cooperate with intellectual property operations and liberate Thailand from the watch list. DeSombre also told Jurin that Washington believes Thailand can play a bigger role in tourism than other countries in the region once the pandemic is under control.

Jurin, meanwhile, called on the ambassador to push for the US production sector to use more raw materials from Thailand, such as rubber, rice as well as digital content. He also asked the envoy to look into the release of perishable goods, such as fruits and beverages that are stuck in different ports across the US.

The minister called on the diplomat to help coordinate with social-media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to prevent the sale of illegal products, such as medical masks, in Thailand, and urged him to have the US private sector participate in the May 25-27 digital content trade show that his ministry has organised.

Meanwhile, large private firms in Thailand are planning to invest in the United States, such as the US$13 billion investment in the petrochemical industry eyed by PTT. The US, on the other hand, is also planning to spend about Bt200 billion in setting up advanced petrochemical plants in Thailand.

As of 9.25am, the buying price of a gold bar was Bt25,800 per baht weight and selling price Bt26,000, while gold ornaments were Bt25,332.36 and Bt26,500, respectively.

At close on Wednesday (May 13), the buying price of a gold bar was Bt25,700 per baht weight and selling price Bt25,900, while gold ornaments were priced at Bt25,241.40 and Bt26,400, respectively.

The Gold Spot Index price on Thursday morning moved to around US$1,714 (Bt55,042) per ounce after the price rose by $9.6 to $1,716.4 per ounce at close on Wednesday.

Investors were buying gold as safe haven assets after US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell warned that the US economy would face unprecedented risks from the Covid-19 outbreak.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong gold price rose by HK$90 to $15,870 (Bt65,760) per tael.

A stock analyst expected the index to fall to between 1,280 and 1,285 as global indices slumped after the US Federal Reserve chairman warned that the US economy would face unprecedented risks from Covid-19 and uncertainty following the second wave of the outbreak.

“In addition, the mass sell-off during the final lap of the first quarter performance announcement would pressure the investment direction,” the stock analyst said.

“However, the index would rebound from hopes of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration easing more lockdown measures after there were no new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday [May 13].”

He advised investors to buy stocks as follows:

● Energy stocks, such as PTT, PTTEP, TOP, PTTGC, and SPRC, due to increased crude oil price.

● Retail stocks, such as CRC, CPN, HMPRO, GLOBAL, COM7, and DOHOME, due to CCSA’s aimed to ease more lockdown measures.

● Stocks calculated in the MSCI Thailand Index were AWC, BAM, and KTC.

The baht is expected to move between Bt31.95 and Bt32.15 to the dollar today, SCB Securities senior market strategist Jitipol Puksamatanan said.

On Wednesday night, the S&P 500 fell by 1.75 per cent, while Euro Stoxx 50 fell by 2.55 per cent due to uncertainty following the prolonged economic slowdown and lack of new monetary policy.

Recently, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that he will not use negative interest rate policy as urged by the US President Donald Trump.

However, this issue did not affect the dollar, but it strengthened the yen and boosted the price of gold.

Meanwhile, the British pound and the Canadian dollar weakened due to the likelihood of the Bank of England easing monetary policy.

Jitipol said factors that would strengthen the baht are foreign investment in Thai bonds and mass sell-offs in assets among exporters.

“We do not expect renewal of lockdown measures in various countries, causing the baht to strengthen,” he said.

He added that the baht is expected to move to 31.90 against the dollar in the second quarter and to 31.50 at the end of this year due to uncertainty following the renewal of the US-China trade war before the US presidential election.

“The recovery may take some time to gather momentum, and the passage of time can turn liquidity problems into solvency problems,” Powell said Wednesday in remarks to a virtual event hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery.”

Powell and his colleagues on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee have taken dramatic measures to shelter the U.S. economy during the coronavirus pandemic. They have cut their benchmark interest rate to nearly zero, engaged in open-ended bond buying and begun rolling out emergency lending programs as U.S. unemployment has soared to levels not seen since the 1930s Great Depression.

Some investors have speculated the Fed might follow other central banks in taking interest rates into negative territory to spur spending, with interest rate futures indicating a small chance it might happen. Powell acknowledged the discussion but said it was not being considered, though he stopped short of ruling the tool out as an option in the future.

“The committee’s view on negative rates really has not changed. This is not something that we’re looking at,” he said. “I know that there are fans of the policy, but for now, it’s not something that we’re considering. We think we have a good toolkit, and that’s the one we’ll be using.”

Traders of fed funds futures pushed bets on a negative policy rate into next year after Powell’s comments.

The Fed chair in his speech outlined the worrying scenario posed by mass bankruptcies and unemployment while asserting that policymakers may have to do more to prevent these from coming to pass. He said the Fed would publish a survey Thursday showing almost 40% of Americans in households making less than $40,000 a year had lost a job in March.

“Long stretches of unemployment can damage or end workers’ careers as their skills lose value and professional networks dry up, and leave families in greater debt,” Powell said. “The loss of thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses across the country would destroy the life’s work and family legacy of many business and community leaders and limit the strength of the recovery when it comes.”

Congressional lawmakers and President Donald Trump’s administration have passed almost $3 trillion in economic relief measures, including $454 billion to serve as a backstop for the central bank’s emergency programs. Democrats and Republicans are currently talking about another round of aid, including measures to shore up state and local governments whose tax revenues have been decimated by stay-at-home orders that have shuttered entire sectors of the economy.

“While the economic response has been both timely and appropriately large, it may not be the final chapter, given that the path ahead is both highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks,” Powell said.

In an unprecedented step, the Fed this week also began buying exchange-traded funds invested in corporate debt to support liquidity in the market where large companies borrow.

Powell added that the central bank would “continue to use our tools to their fullest until the crisis has passed and the economic recovery is well under way,” but cautioned that it could only make loans and not spend money.

“When this crisis is behind us, we will put these emergency tools away,” he said.

At the same time, Japan must brace for more economic pain as the major urban areas of Tokyo and Osaka are likely to remain under a state of emergency at least until the end of May, said Nishimura, who also leads the government’s virus response.

“We share with the Bank of Japan a firm determination that we will absolutely not allow deflation to return,” Nishimura said in an interview Wednesday. “We also share a strong sense of crisis as we work together to deal with the current situation.”

Japan has seen the fewest confirmed covid-19 infections and related deaths of any Group of Seven leading democracy and Nishimura said the government is looking to end its national state of emergency at the end of this month. “Even if we do remove it, we will restore things gradually. It won’t mean that everything is immediately freed up.”

Nishimura’s emphasis on the need to avoid a reemergence of deflation as the pandemic triggers a cratering of global demand suggests more policy action could be in the works. It comes after senior government officials had notably refrained from referring to the BOJ’s 2% inflation goal.

Government experts are expected to advise on Thursday which regions of the country can start to resume more activities. Japan’s capital has been the worst-hit by the virus, with about 5,000 cases confirmed. It now looks to be emerging from the crisis, with about 10 new infections set to be announced Wednesday, according to news network JNN — the lowest figure since late March.

“It’s going to be difficult to lift the state of emergency in Tokyo tomorrow. So with urban areas still in a severe situation, we need to be prepared for a substantial downturn,” Nishimura said.Keeping the economic powerhouses of Tokyo and Osaka under virus restrictions would show the government prioritizing management of the health crisis over the economy after criticism that its response to the pandemic has been slow and insufficient.

Nishimura also said it was too early for Japan to start talking about loosening border restrictions, as some of its neighbors are doing.

Japanese households cut monthly spending by the most in five years in March, as the virus spread. Adding to the gloomy news, Japan’s biggest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., warned this week that profit will fall 80% to a 9-year low as consumers hold off on major purchases.

The immediate focus of policy makers is to keep companies afloat and workers employed while containing the virus. But concerns are building that the likelihood of the worst economic contraction since World War II in the current quarter — combined with rock-bottom oil prices — could push Japan back into the deflation hole it has spent years trying to escape.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg this month expect the economy to shrink at an annualized pace of 22% in the current quarter, while the BOJ sees inflation averaging as low as -0.7% over the 12 months to March 2021.

The question remains about how much Japan can do with the world’s largest public debt burden and few monetary tools left following more than seven years of unprecedented monetary easing. The central bank has already bought a mountain of assets that is bigger than the entire economy as part of its campaign to slay deflation.

Fears that other countries may also succumb to the stagnation seen in Japan in the past have generated much talk of the need to avoid the Japanification of economies globally.

In an unusual move, Nishimura has attended two BOJ policy meetings since March, asking the bank to continue to take appropriate policy by closely watching economic developments. The BOJ more than doubled its purchase of corporate bonds and promised to buy bonds without a limit at its April gathering.