* Bank of Thailand announces measures against speculation
* Reduces outstanding balance limit in non-resident bahtaccounts
* Tightens reporting for non-resident debt holdings
* Baht is best performing currency in Asia this year
* C.bank moves should only have a short-term impact -trader(Adds details, comment from traders)
By Orathai Sriring and Kitiphong Thaichareon
BANGKOK, July 12 (Reuters) - Thailand's central bank said onFriday it moved against short-term speculative inflows amid astrengthening baht and was ready to use additionalmeasures if speculation persisted, sending the currency andstocks lower.
The measures come days after the Bank of Thailand governorsaid he was not happy with "hot" money fuelling the baht, Asia'sbest performing currency, and was ready to act if inflows wereunusually large. nL4N24A2BU]
The BOT "is concerned about the rapid appreciation of theThai baht relative to its regional peers, as it could lead tounfavourable macroeconomic repercussions," Assistant GovernorVachira Arromdee said in a statement.
"With the relatively more positive outlook on the Thai baht,investors have increased their positions in Thai baht and Thaisecurities, in part for short-term speculative purpose," sheadded.
The bank reduced the limit on the outstanding balance innon-resident baht accounts (NRBA) and non-resident baht accountsfor securities (NRBS) to 200 million baht ($6.47 million) pernon-resident from 300 million baht, effective July 22.
It also tightened reporting requirements for non-residentholdings of debt securities issued in Thailand.
(For more details, click on Baht Measures https://www.bot.or.th/Thai/PressandSpeeches/Press/News2562/n3862e.pdfand Q&A https://www.bot.or.th/English/FinancialMarkets/ForeignExchangeRegulations/Pages/default.aspx)
The baht slipped by 20 basis points to 30.91 per dollarafter the BOT announcement, and traded at 30.87 at 0510 GMT.
The baht has appreciated by 5.5% against the dollar thisyear, the top performer in Asia.
The Thai stock market dropped about 0.5% at themidday break, but is up by 11% this year.
Dealers said the measures would have a short-term impact oninflows, which they expected to slow down. Some traderssuggested the central bank should cut its policy rate.
The BOT has left its benchmark interest rateunchanged at 1.75% since December's hike. The rate is 50 basispoints above the record low.
"What the central bank should do is to cut its policyinterest rate," said a dealer at Krung Thai Bank.
BOT Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said on Monday there wasno need for a quick adjustment of monetary policy.
Friday's measures came after the BOT this month cut itsshort-term bond supplies to slow fund inflows, which had pushedup the baht to its highest in six years this month.($1 = 30.90 baht)
(Editing by Darren Schuettler)