3-month Sibor finally cracks under ample liquidity, falls to 0.871%, the low for the year

THE three-month key Sibor or Singapore interbank offered rate has finally cracked, weighed down by domestic liquidity; it fell to the year's low on Thursday to 0.87067 per cent from 0.87242 per cent on Wednesday.

Although the decline is small, it's significant because the sticky three-month Sibor, which is used to price home loans, had barely moved in the past few months while the more volatile three-month SOR or swap offer rate has been weakening since early June. SOR rates are used to price corporate loans.

The Singdollar continued to weaken against the US dollar, falling for the fourth straight day and stood at S$1.3717 on Thursday. It was S$1.3637 on Monday.

The Sibor "finally decided to catch up with the SOR... was only a matter of time before it cracked", said Eugene Leow, DBS Bank economist.