MAS ready to intervene to curb currency volatility

[SINGAPORE] The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) made clear yesterday that it "stands ready to curb excessive volatility" in Singapore's currency, backing the market's view that the central bank has been intervening in the currency markets in recent weeks.

Analysts highlighted the explicit mention of this, which has not surfaced since MAS' policy statement of April 2010 when fears of a eurozone collapse caused turmoil in global financial markets, and said it was made in the light of potential volatility.

This was probably prompted by anxieties about market volatility when the US Federal Reserve ends the tapering of its quantitative easing programme and the fed fund rate starts to rise, as well as geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, and concerns over growth in China, said Maybank's FX research team.