South-east Asian currencies hit fresh highs against US dollar post-Powell speech; strength set to last till year-end
Ringgit leads the charge trading at 18-month high; Singapore dollar hits decade-high; baht and rupiah erase YTD losses against greenback
REGIONAL currencies strengthened on Monday (Aug 26), buoyed by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s dovish remarks last Friday at the Jackson Hole symposium that cemented market expectations of a September rate cut.
The Singapore dollar gained 0.4 per cent against the US dollar to trade at around 1.3026 on Monday evening, from 1.3082 before Powell’s address. The local currency is now trading at around a decade-high, after briefly breaching by a whisker the 1.3 threshold on Monday morning.
Another star performer is the ringgit which had been crowned the worst-performing currency in emerging Asia last year. The Malaysian currency was charting an 18-month high at 4.3488 against the US dollar on Monday evening, gaining 0.6 per cent from 4.3748 before Friday’s remarks.
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