BENGALURU (Aug 26): The Thai baht was steady and stocks held gains on Wednesday after the central bank kept its key rate unchanged as expected, while Asian technology shares edged higher ahead of Nvidia's earnings.

The baht was little changed at 32.7225 per dollar after the Bank of Thailand (BOT) unanimously kept its one-day repurchase rate at 1.00% for a third straight meeting.

Thai stocks were up 0.7% after the decision.

"The BOT decision was (as) expected. We expect BOT to remain on hold in 2026 as domestic demand conditions remain weak amid manageable inflationary pressures but normalise its policy rate in 2027," said Lavanya Venkateswaran, senior Asean economist at OCBC.

Currencies were mixed, with the Malaysian ringgit near 4.02 per dollar, its strongest since early June, helped by lower oil prices and optimism over the country's growth and trade outlook.

In contrast, oil-sensitive currencies including the Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso and Indian rupee have fallen 4.6%-5.8% this year as higher energy costs raised inflation and growth concerns.

The rupiah reversed course, weakening slightly to 17,715 per dollar, after the sole candidate nominated to be Indonesia's next central bank governor said synergy with other institutions would not reduce Bank Indonesia's independence.

The central bank has been plagued with independence concerns over the course of the year, when President Prabowo Subianto had appointed his nephew Thomas Djiwandono as deputy governor in January and parliament passed sweeping legislation in June that doubled down on the central bank's role in supporting economic growth.

The peso marginally weakened to 61.601 a dollar. The Philippine central bank will likely raise its key rate by 25 basis points on Thursday, as concerns over inflation and the peso' weakness overweighed worries over growth.

Iran said it had restarted talks with Oman to manage the Strait, with both countries saying they discussed "a joint temporary navigational corridor" through the strait and agreed to clear it of mines. Oil prices fell over 2% as a result.

South Korean and Taiwan stocks closed up 1% and 1.5% respectively, cautiously extending gains ahead of Nvidia's earnings print due later in the session. With sky-high expectations for the chipmaker, any surprises could tremble markets and raise volatility in the chipmaker-dominated benchmarks in Seoul and Taipei.

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