[SINGAPORE] The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Thursday (Apr 3) that it stands ready to stabilise markets, in a media statement that came shortly after US President Donald Trump announced wide-ranging global tariffs.
Investors fled markets in Asia-Pacific as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Australia, among others, tumbled in response. Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) was an outlier as it held steady. In the US, Dow futures tumbled more than 1,000 points initially.
“MAS stands ready to curb excessive volatility in the Singapore dollar, and to ensure that Singapore’s foreign exchange and money markets continue to function in an orderly manner,” the central bank said.
It said that Singapore’s foreign exchange and money markets continued to function normally among current market conditions.
The US dollar initially surged against the Singapore dollar after the first round of tariffs that Trump announced in February. In the past month, however, it lost some steam, declining 0.29 per cent. On Thursday, it declined 0.34 per cent against the Singdollar, fetching S$1.3426.
Trump announced imposing wide-ranging tariffs on all countries on early Thursday morning, with additional customised tariffs on specific countries.
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“MAS is closely monitoring developments and assessing the implications for the Singapore economy,” the authority added.
Trump imposed a baseline 10 per cent tariff on all countries and additional country-specific reciprocal tariffs on roughly 60 “worst offenders”. These include Cambodia with the highest rate at 49 per cent, Vietnam facing 46 per cent, and Thailand with 36 per cent.
Most equities in Asian markets had already seen notable slumps on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei at one point slumping into a correction.
Following the announcement on Thursday, markets in Asia continued tumbling as investors went into risk-off mode.
Japan, which has been slapped with an additional customised tariff rate of 24 per cent, saw its Nikkei 225 plummet by 4.3 per cent shortly after the market opened. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by about 1.3 per cent.
South Korea was hit with a 25 per cent tariff rate, and its Kospi Composite Index dropped 2.3 per cent. Australia, which will only face the baseline tariff rate, saw the ASX200 fall by nearly 1.9 per cent.
Singapore’s STI was one exception, as it held steady with marginal losses by the afternoon. As the country imposes no tariffs on US products under the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, it was only subject to the baseline 10 per cent rate.
