The Thai baht is surging

The Thai baht is surging.

The currency is up by 0.9% at 35.361 per dollar as of 12:27 p.m. ET.

Earlier, Thailand’s Royal Palace said King Bhumibol, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88.

“The death of Thailand’s highly-revered king will plunge the country into a state of mourning, and also deep political uncertainty. There is a risk that political tensions flare up, triggering a slowdown in economic growth,” argued Krystal Tan and Gareth Leather of Capital Economics.

As for the rest of the world, here’s the scoreboard as of 12:29 p.m. ET:

The Korean won finished down 1.1% at 1,135.85 per dollar after the Bank of Korea held its benchmark interest rate at 1.25%, as expected, and said it saw "uncertainties surrounding the growth path to be high." Barclays' David Fernandez and Angela Hsieh argued in a note: "In our view, this suggests, the central bank is adopting a 'wait and see' stance to allow more data to be released in order to gauge the health of the economy." The Turkish lira touched a record-low of 3.1131 per the dollar earlier in the day. It has since retraced its losses, and is little changed for the day at 3.0850 per dollar. The euro is up 0.3% at 1.1041 against the dollar after earlier data showed that German CPI rose 0.1% month-over-month in September, in line with expectations. The US dollar index is up by 0.4% at 97.63 after the latest reading on initial jobless claims was unchanged at 246,000. The British pound is up by 0.3% at 1.2226 against the dollar, finally catching its breath after a tumultuous week-and-a-half. The Russian ruble is little changed at 62.9808 per dollar, while Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is also little changed at $51.89 per barrel. The Japanese yen up by 0.6% at 103.59 per dollar.