Bonds snapped up

DEBTMARKET: Global funds pumped a record 37.1 billion baht into Thai bonds on Friday after the Federal Reserve maintained stimulus that buoyed emerging-market assets.

They purchased another 8.82 billion baht worth of Thai bonds yesterday.

International investors bought more local debt than they sold for a ninth day yesterday.

Friday’s inflow was the biggest in data going back to March 2010, figures from the Thai Bond Market Association compiled by Bloomberg show.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said last Wednesday that the US central bank is concerned a rapid tightening will hurt the world’s largest economy.

The Fed announcement will help improve investor sentiment in Asia, with Thailand’s local debt and Malaysia’s securities standing out as key beneficiaries, HSBC Holdings Plc analysts led by Andre de Silva wrote in a research note on Thursday.

‘‘Thailand bonds remain a key overweight in our Asia-Pacific portfolio,’’ Mr De Silva wrote in the report. ‘‘The Bank of Thailand also stands out as the only central bank in Asia with sufficient justification to ease monetary policy as growth has disappointed while inflation has fallen to a four-year low.’’

The yield on the government’s 3.625% bonds due in June 2023 fell 37 basis points last week to 4.01%.

The nation’s foreign reserves climbed to $169.1 billion on Sept 13, from $168.9 billion two weeks earlier, central bank data showed on Friday. The Bank of Thailand is in talks with the Finance Ministry and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on how to regulate the spot gold market and prevent foreign exchange speculation.

The review comes after the discovery that actual gold imports and exports were lower than their corresponding US-dollar transactions.

Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said the central bank is closely monitoring