The USD/SGD currency pair settled below Friday’s high of 1.3096, its strongest level since May 2nd, after stronger-than-expected US employment data added to expectations that the Federal Reserve would abstain from lowering borrowing costs in December.
Employers in all sectors of the US economy, excluding farming, added 119,000 job positions in September, well above market consensus of 50,000.
Markets are now pricing in about a 35% chance of a 25 basis point Fed rate cut in December, compared to a 44% chance a week earlier.
An increasing number of Fed officials have signaled reticence on further rate cuts due to inflation concerns and indications of relative stability in the US labor market.
This week, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was “uneasy” about frontloading rate cuts, with progress on inflation moving towards the 2% target looking to have stalled.
The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s October meeting revealed that interest rates had been lowered even as policy makers cautioned that such a move could risk entrenched inflation and a loss of public trust in the financial institution.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s economy grew 4.2% year-on-year in Q3, final data showed, easing from a 4.7% growth in Q2.
The figure came above the flash estimate of 2.9%, driven by growth in manufacturing, wholesale trade and finance & insurance.
The exotic Forex pair gained 0.78% for the week.
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