Singapore: Manufacturing sector under pressure – UOB

Pablo Piovano FXStreet

Economist Barnabas Gan at UOB Group reviewed the recent figures from the manufacturing sector in Singapore.

Key Quotes

“Singapore’s industrial production contracted 7.4% y/y (-16.5% m/m sa) in May 2020, marking its first contraction in three months.”

“The contraction is attributed to the Circuit Breaker measures which spanned across the entire month of May. Manufacturing momentum fell in the transport engineering cluster (- 40.7%) and general manufacturing cluster (-26.9%). In contrast, the biomedical manufacturing sector (+5.9%) expanded for its fifth straight month. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, Singapore’s industrial production fell 10.4% y/y in May 2020.”

“We keep our industrial production outlook to contract by 2.0% in 2020. COVID-19-led risks amid trade headwinds are formidable drags to Singapore’s overall manufacturing environment.”

“There still remains a high degree of uncertainty over Singapore’s economic prospects. The very nature of the pandemic is fluid, and it could still be more severe and protracted than previously anticipated. Beyond the pandemic, we would also need to account for the renewed geopolitical and trade tensions that may intensify in the coming months.”

Author

Pablo Piovano

FXStreet

Born and bred in Argentina, Pablo has been carrying on with his passion for FX markets and trading since his first college years.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.