Singapore Dollar May Become Rare Global Winner as MAS Tightens

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(Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s dollar has established itself as Asia’s most resilient currency against the US dollar this year, and some strategists are betting on more strength if price pressures force the nation’s central bank to tighten its exchange-rate policy again next month.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS)., Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C). and MUFG Bank Ltd. are among banks that are bullish on the currency, underpinned by an expectation that the Monetary Authority of Singapore will extend policy tightening at its October meeting to help rein in core inflation that hit a 14-year high in July.

The predictions come as almost every major currency retreats against the dollar with the Federal Reserve set on an aggressive rate hike cycle. While the MAS’s stance has turned the nation’s currency into a winner against peers in Asia, it’s still down more than 4% against the greenback this year.

MUFG Bank puts the likelihood of additional tightening by the MAS next month at 50%, which could translate into a gain of more than 1% for the local currency versus the dollar over the following months, according to Jeff Ng, a currency strategist at MUFG Bank in Singapore. “Our call of a SGD rebound is premised on most of the Fed’s eventual rate hikes already being priced into markets now,” he said. 

MUFG forecasts the Asian currency rising to 1.38 against the dollar by year-end. It closed last week at 1.4070.

Unlike most central banks that use interest rates, the MAS responds to rising core inflation by guiding the local dollar higher against a basket made up of the currencies of its major trading partners. The central bank focuses on the level of the Singapore dollar’s nominal effective exchange rate, referred to as S$NEER, which it allows to move within a policy band. 

Still, even if the MAS does extend its policy tightening for a fourth time this year, there’s no guarantee the local currency will rally against the greenback -- the Singapore dollar slumped to its lowest in more than two years earlier this month before paring its 2022 decline to 4.1% by the end of last week.

“Despite the MAS tightening, USD/SGD has continued to inch higher amidst a broad USD rally supported by a hawkish Fed, geopolitical tensions and a slowdown in China’s growth,” said Divya Devesh, head of Asean and South-Asia FX research at Standard Chartered in Singapore. 

The risk for Singapore dollar bulls is that the MAS decides to keep its policy unchanged next month, which can’t be completely ruled out -- the central bank maintained its 2022 inflation projections in August, indicating the existing policy stance may be sufficient to tame inflation.

The next test comes on Friday with the release of core CPI for August, which is forecast to increase 5% from a year earlier. The currency could come under pressure if the data disappoint and expectations for further MAS tightening diminish. Devesh expects the domestic currency to fall to 1.42 per dollar in the absence of more tightening.

Here are the key Asian economic data due this week:

• Monday, Sept. 19: RBA’s Kearns speaks, New Zealand performance services index
• Tuesday, Sept. 20: Japan CPI, RBA minutes, China 1- and 5-year loan prime rate, Malaysia trade balance
• Wednesday, Sept. 21: RBA’s Bullock speaks, South Korea 10-day trade balance, New Zealand credit card spend
• Thursday, Sept. 22: BOJ policy decision, BSP rate decision, Bank Indonesia rate decision, New Zealand trade balance, Thailand customs trade balance
• Friday, Sept. 23: Singapore CPI, Malaysia CPI, South Korea PPI

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