Singdollar reaches 7-year high against Aussie dollar

SINGAPORE — The Singdollar rose to a seven-year-high against the Australian dollar today (Feb 11), reaching S$1 to A$1.0267 at 5.05pm (Singapore time), Bloomberg data showed.

The last time, the Sing dollar was at this mark against the Aussie dollar was in the last week of January 2009.

At 3.45pm today, S$1 was still at A$1.0118. However, there was a sudden spike in the strength of the Sing dollar, reaching A$1.0206 by 4.20pm, and climbing further to A$1.0260 by 4.40pm.

As of 6pm, the Sing dollar has gone down to A$1.0216. At the time, the Sing Dollar was still up by 0.88 per cent against the Aussie dollar, according to Bloomberg data.

Most emerging Asian currencies extended gains today after US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen cemented expectations that the US central bank may not hurry to raise interest rates, while growing risk aversion limited gains in regional units, reported Reuters.

The Malaysian ringgit hovered at a near four-month peak as data showing the country’s factory output in December rose more than expected.

Indonesia’s rupiah and Thailand’s baht also hit near four-month highs on bond inflows. The Sing dollar cleared a key chart resistance level to touch its strongest since late October on weakness in the US dollar.

Today, the Singdollar also reached a near 4-month high against the US dollar, reaching to as much as S$1.3861 per US dollar as of 9.15am.

The city-state’s unit is seen appreciating further to 1.3836, the previous high, as it broke through a chart resistance at 1.3915, a 200-day moving average, analysts said.

The currency had been staying weaker than the average since early September 2014.

The next target would be 1.3798, the 50 per cent Fibonacci retracement level of its depreciation from April 2015 to January this year, analysts said. AGENCIES