Sing-dollar pulls back from rally against greenback

THE Singapore dollar on Wednesday pulled back from its rally, after the Monetary Authority of Singapore surprised the market by standing pat on its Sing-dollar policy on Tuesday.

As at 10.20am, one US dollar translated into 1.3622 Singapore dollars, data from Bloomberg showed. At the end of trading on Tuesday, 1.3605 Singapore dollars would have bought one US dollar.

Analysts earlier said the Singapore dollar strength would be temporary, and that the greenback is set to gain further on the back of a more buoyant US economy.

MAS said on Tuesday that it would keep the currency on the same "modest and gradual" appreciating path. Singapore's central bank adjusts its monetary policy through the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER). This refers to the rate at which the Sing-dollar is valued against an undisclosed basket of currencies. The more trade that Singapore does with a country, the greater the weight of that country's currency in the basket.