Thai Baht Hits Four-Year High as Thailand Weighs Online Gold Tax and Trading Curbs; Ringgit Rallies and Singapore Stocks Break Records (Dec 23, 2025)
Thailand’s baht surged to its strongest levels in more than four years on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, prompting an unusually coordinated response from Bangkok’s financial authorities—and putting the spotlight on a force that has quietly become one of Asia’s most influential currency drivers this year: gold. A rally in bullion, amplified by Thailand’s deep and highly active gold-trading ecosystem, has pushed the baht to the top of the region’s currency leaderboard. But the move is now creating headaches for policymakers and exporters at the same time Southeast Asian markets are being buoyed by a softer U.S. dollar, a year-end risk-on