|
The average daily foreign exchange turnover in Singapore for 2000 was
slightly below US$100 billion. This was a 18.3% decline from 1999, reflecting
the lower exchange rate volatility in many Asian currencies, particularly the
Yen. In addition, with the increased importance of merger and acquisition-related
foreign exchange flows, trading in the US Dollar and Euro gravitated
towards the London/New York time-zones.
Although there was a general decline in trading volumes, Singapore's foreign
exchange market continued to be international in nature and the major
currency pairs (US$/YEN,EUR/US$ and STG/US$) continued to dominate activities.
US$/S$ accounted for about 6.0% of total turnover in 2000.
The volume of currency options traded in 2000 averaged about US$49.1 billion per
month, a 30.7% decline from the year earlier. The lower volume was due to the
lower exchange rate volatility and a smaller investor community. The Yen,
Euro and Australian Dollar accounted for about 70.3% of the total volume of
currency options traded.
|