The US Dollar remains sideways against Ringgit this Thursday and is now trading at 4.1530. Investors are waiting for the Initial Jobless Claims data, to be released later. The forecast is that 335k people have applied for unemployment insurance during the last week. If this number comes in higher than expected, investors may interpret that the Fed will maintain its stimulus to boost employment, and this has the potential to devalue the dollar. On the other hand, if this number comes below expectations, the market may interpret that the Fed is achieving its objectives with the current monetary policy and will soon start tapering and this has the potential to make the dollar appreciate against its counterparts and to Ringgit.
The US Dollar started to show some strength against the Singapore Dollar this Thursday and is now trading at 1.3465. Earlier this Thursday, Dallas Fed President Kaplan reaffirmed his hawkish stance, stressing the need to ease financial stimulus starting at the Fed’s next meeting in September. Kaplan pointed out that the delay in the tapering process could end up limiting the Fed’s potential for action in the coming months. This caused the US Dollar to gain some strength. From a technical standpoint, the USDSGD recently touched the 200 Simple Moving Average from above. This Moving Average can act as an important dynamic support point. If the price breaks above 1.3480, it could rise to 1.3650 in a few days.
