Thank you to the reader who sent this in the comment.  Taxi drivers in Johore Bharu now accept Singapore Dollars for the JB – Rochor ride. The rate is SGD12.00 per person.

It means Singapore Dollars are now legal tender in JB.


http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/johor-bh...iating-ringgit/

U.S. equities chopped around the flatline on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen put an exclamation point on the possibility of a rate hike this month.

While leaving just enough wiggle room in case conditions should change, the central bank leader said economic improvements of late will be a big part of the discussion at the March 14-15 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
...
Market expectations for a March rate hike have skyrocketed to 81 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, on the back of hawkish rhetoric and solid economic data.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/03/us-markets.html

http://www.theedgemarkets.com.sg/article/f...laysian-ringgit

Analyst thinks MYR might strengthen against SGD.

SGD has always been tightly controlled by MAS. MAS has adopted the strategy of currency control as a tool to stabilize the economy, where other country mostly use interest rate as a tool. Because SG does not use interest rate as a tool, the interest rate has been mostly flat. Sg is the only country in the world to use currency control as a monetary policy.

Current MAS position is 'neutral' against a basket of currency. The composition of the basket is secret but it is speculated to include most of it;s major trading partners which includes mostly RMB and USD..

Why MAS use currency control instead of interest rate? It is maybe because of cash horde of foreign currency it is holding, its positive current account balance and surplus budget. No other country can match the financial powers of small Singapore which is why it is rated at AAA. (Super safe)

In comparison USA is rated AA+, EU is rated AA and Malaysia is only rated A-

As long as MAS maintain neutral or positive position, your SGD buying power is mostly guaranteed. Unless MAS change to negative, then only you need to worry. MAS revise the policy every April and October.
So SGD strength over the many many years is not by chance, but is tightly controlled by MAS. Below is the estimated SGD NEER chart, last policy in changed 2015 has left unchanged until now.

At this juncture, it is no longer about economic numbers and such. It is above risk and confidence in the politics of the nation.
SG, a stable and transparent nation vs Msia, an unstable and rather opaque governance with multiple socio/political/religious risks.
Where, as a FDI would you rather?

Brazil tumbles deeper into its worst ever depression
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/08/brazil-tumb...depression.html

SGD have been flat at 3.155 - 3.16 for this week.  How is that a good time? Unless fall to 3.14x then good time  unless it's going up further   

Ya, SGD and AUD retreated a little. Could have some more room before 15/3 I reckon...

Yes, bros,... I've been waiting for today,.... BUT I think it's still too early to go in,... the rise in USD will still have further legs to go.

I am quoting money changer's rate of them selling SGD. It's been flat this since last week at 3.155-3.16 so not interesting yet. Hopefully it drop to 3.145. Then I change some more.
You are saying it will go up?

For USD ya la as it's "pegged" so even if it goes higher, we are actually getting more USD. 

I'm also thinking like the above, Showtime,... BUT there have been instances in past hikes whereby as the news to the hike gathers steam, the USD will strengthen strongly,....... and then AFTER the hike, or even upon the hike, the USD weakens back,....

NZD is dropping drastically, anyone knows why?

I think just apportion out the targetted amt to be changed over the next few days, and chg over daily,... final day of change to be daytime, March 15, Wednesday. Ann't will be that night, our time,....

Country Garden halts Malaysian housing sales amid capital flight crackdown
To further curb capital outflows, the Chinese government in January banned its citizens from converting yuan into other currencies for overseas property purchases.
In the same month, Wu Bijun, general manager of Country Garden’s finance centre, who will become the company’s chief financial officer in April, told the Post that its projects in Malaysia had been affected by the government’s crackdown on capital outflows.
Alan Ho, a former sales agent at Country Garden’s Malaysia company, said about 90 per cent of Forest City buyers were from China.
http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/art...laysian-housing

But in recent weeks, Fed officials mobilized a campaign to tell the markets it's time to hike and they could move in March, while expectations were for a June rate increase and then possibly one other this year. The market got on board with a March hike and is warming up to three increases for 2017.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/10/the-impact.html

The country garden case... I went to look at their show room one time...

I saw they are trying to build a whole freaking city, not just houses to be sold to chinaman..

How many people need to rent out if all the houses bought are bought up....and where is the population to stay there..

look look see see, think this is crazy, went off. 

At the Bank Negara board meeting Monday, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he was informed that without GST, the country's deficit "would be at 6% or 7%" instead of the existing 3.5%. 
"The ringgit would be valued much lower at RM6 or RM7 per US dollar because we will not be given good rating by international agencies as they feel that our revenue is insufficient to meet administrative and development expenditure. 
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017...Mfv6YWHZOH76.99

Raising gst rates and strengtening the RM are two different issues. How sure are you GST money collected are used for its intended usage?

Fed Raises Benchmark Rate as Inflation Approaches 2% Target
Policy makers still project three total rate hikes for 2017
FOMC sticks with ‘gradual’ plan for removing accommodation

PETALING JAYA – Foreigners have sold RM21.71bil worth of government bonds in the last three months, reducing their share of holding in the debt papers to 28.7% as of end February from a peak of 34.7% last year.

According to Bank Negara, 70% of the debt papers that were sold by foreigners have less than three years to mature and the bulk of them will expire in less than a year.

“The selldown was largely due to the unwinding of the NDF (non-deliverable forwards) positions by non-resident financial institution investors,” said Bank Negara’s financial markets committee which released a statement following a roundtable discussion on the domestic bond market development last Friday.

Relax don't need to panic. Najib will do something.

I'm also thinking like the above, Showtime,... BUT there have been instances in past hikes whereby as the news to the hike gathers steam, the USD will strengthen strongly,....... and then AFTER the hike, or even upon the hike, the USD weakens back,....

And that... is a possible scenario.
If that will be the case, $ drops, RM follow?
If RM follow, it will drop against all other majors... sgd, aud...
So, better buy fx now or later?
Just hv to hold a view n run with it.
If diversified already, it may not matter much overall.

The dollar dropped to a five-week low against a basket of currencies on Thursday, still reeling from the previous session, when a statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve statement failed to signal a much faster pace of monetary policy tightening.

The U.S. currency also slid to a two-week-low against the yen, and a five-week trough versus the euro.

The Fed on Wednesday lifted the target overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.75 percent to 1.00 percent, but stuck to its original forecast of three rate increases this year. Investors were expecting four rate hikes in 2017.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/15/dollar-wall...ports-euro.html