in the news...
Singapore dollar jumps after c.bank unexpectedly keeps policy unchanged
By Reuters / Reuters | April 14, 2015 : 10:47 AM MYT
Share on facebookShare on twitter
Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPDF version
SINGAPORE (Apr 14): The Singapore dollar jumped on Tuesday, leading gains in emerging Asian currencies, after the central bank kept its monetary policy unchanged and said that growth was evolving in line with expectations and inflation could pick up.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it would maintain a modest and gradual appreciation of the Singapore dollar's nominal effective exchange rate (NEER), defying expectations it might loosen policy.
The Singapore dollar strengthened to 1.3597 per U.S. dollar after the central bank's move spurred investors to cut bearish bets on the currency. Before that, the Singapore dollar weakened to 1.3746, compared with its previous close of 1.3714.
"The statement is a bit hawkish in my view. The MAS is still worried about future incipient medium inflationary pressures and growth outlook is not so dire," said Saktiandi Supaat, head of FX research for Maybank in Singapore.
"We expect SGD to appreciate vs USD in the short term, supported by unwinding of some of the long USD positions but should return to weakness eventually later as dollar strength remains."
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/s...olicy-unchangedRoom for Singapore Exchange shares to head higher?
By Nicholas Teo / CMC Markets | April 14, 2015 : 9:03 AM MYT
Share on facebookShare on twitter
Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPDF version
SINGAPORE (April 14): There has been speculation in certain quarters of the markets that a ‘Singapore-China’ stock connect may be in the pipeline.
This has brought attention to SGX’s share price which has firmed by as much as 4% on increased volume over the past three sessions.
While this may be pure conjecture by the markets at this stage, the prospect of allowing an easier flow and passage for trading in securities, connecting the Chinese stock markets to the Singapore Exchange - as a South East Asian representative – makes compelling reading.
The question remains as to whether local authorities could pull this off.
Adding weight to this theory, perhaps, is the recent relocation of Mr Lawrence Wong, Head of Listings and China business of SGX, to China.
SGX is trading at a TTM PE of 28X versus HKEX at 50X, LSE at 46X and the ASX at 20.5X.
The SGX chart looks interesting here, as the 2015 high of $8.30 was broken yesterday.
Should this ‘break’ hold, we may see a fast move towards the $8.70 level, followed by the possibility of a test on $9.
Conversely, if this resistance proves too much to breech, we may see the stock ease back to the $7.90 support.
Further, SGX is due to report quarterly numbers on the 22nd of this month. We may see those numbers reflect the increase in market volumes that we have had in the first calendar quarter this year.
By way of a relative comparison, HKEX is having a super run with the stock up almost 50% in the last eight sessions, as trading volumes on the south-bound traffic exploded after Chinese traders returned from their Easter Holidays last week.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article/r...res-head-higher