Emerging FX-Thai baht unmoved by ruling on political parties

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) The Thai baht was surprisingly steady on Friday, little moved by a court ruling that banned exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his party from politics for five years.

Other Asian currencies, except for a weakening Taiwan dollar, were also little changed as markets waited for U.S. jobs data later in the day that could help investors decide which way U.S. rates might head next.

The Japanese yen was a shade weaker around 121.80 per dollar, near Thursday's 3-month trough of 121.99.

Markets in Singapore and Thailand reopened after a holiday on Thursday and traders were a bit surprised by the baht's indifference to Wednesday's order by Thai judges that the Thai Rak Thai party should be disbanded for breaching election laws.

The baht was quoted at 34.59/63 per dollar in onshore trade , almost unchanged from Wednesday's levels and just off the 9-{ year high struck earlier this month.

One Bangkok-based trader thought the court's ruling was ''good news'' for both politics and financial markets.

''I can see exporters waiting to sell above 34.65,'' the trader said. ''But it depends on whether we see any serious reactions to this news.'' One reason for the baht's steadiness was the variety of market views.

The former opposition Democrat Party was absolved of any wrongdoing by the Thai court, which some analysts viewed as a positive development for the political scene. Others were wary of protests by Thaksin supporters.

''Purely from the market's perspective, the sparing of the Democrat Party from charges of electoral fraud has reduced the risks that the next elected government would be made up of inexperienced politicians from a coalition of small parties, within which there would have been sufficient room for the military to maintain significant political influence,'' analysts at UBS said in a note to clients.

But they said they would maintain a cautious view on the baht ahead of a September referendum on a new constitution and December general elections the military-appointed government has promised to hold.

HSBC strategist Richard Yetsenga was less optimistic on the baht.

Thailand's political situation was still a mess, he said.

''Baht appreciation still primarily relies on a very sizeable external surplus driven primarily by the trade account.'' Reuters SBC DB0917