SINGAPORE — The Singapore dollar was briefly equivalent to the Australian dollar on Monday morning (May 9), Bloomberg data showed. The Australian currency has since recovered, edging slightly above the Singdollar.

At 5.30am, S$1 was equal to A$1. However, by 5.35am, the Aussie was back above the Singdollar. As of 12.50 pm, A$1 was equivalent to S$1.005.

The Aussie dollar has been on a steady decline against the Singdollar since April 14 this year, when A$1 was equal to S$1.04892.

Last Friday (May 6), the Aussie currency slid against all of its 16 major counterparts after the central bank, in its quarterly statement, said underlying inflation was expected to be one to two per cent this year, down from the two to three per cent it projected in February.

The currency headed for its third weekly decline last week, the longest losing streak since November, following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to cut its key rate to a record 1.75 per cent last Tuesday.

“Inflation running at the bottom of the band as a base case is rather uncomfortable,” Mr Sean Callow, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Westpac Banking Corp in Sydney, said in an instant message on the Bloomberg terminal. “Aussie-dollar trading ranges for the rest of the year just ratcheted lower.”

For nine days in February and two days in January, the Singdollar was stronger than its Australian counterpart.