Singapore dollar trades around 10-year high on policy outlook

Singapore dollar trades around 10-year high on policy outlook

The local dollar nears 1.30 per dollar as the central bank maintains an appreciating bias to curb inflation.

Singapore’s currency has gained about 1.5% this year, the second-best performer in Asia behind Malaysia’s ringgit. (Reuters pic)
SINGAPORE:
Singapore’s dollar advanced to its strongest in almost a decade as traders weighed the difference between the local monetary authority’s relatively hawkish policy outlook compared with that of the Federal Reserve.

The local dollar hit levels last seen in 2014 against the greenback late Friday, and fluctuated around the 1.30 per dollar in early trading Monday. Singapore’s currency has gained about 1.5% this year, the second-best performer in Asia behind Malaysia’s ringgit.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which uses the exchange rate as its main monetary policy tool, maintained an appreciating bias for the currency at its July meeting to rein in inflation.

Fed chair Jerome Powell all but confirmed that interest-rate cuts are coming to the US next month, speaking at the central bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Singapore’s government upgraded this year’s growth forecast in July to a range of between 2% and 3%, from an earlier band of 1% to 3%, citing a resilient external demand outlook. An expanding economy may help underpin further currency gains.

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