SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--The Singapore dollar held steady against the U.S. dollar late Friday in Asia as investors stayed on the sidelines awaiting leads from key international meetings this weekend.
The U.S. dollar treaded water within a narrow S$1.2495-S$1.2525 band, ahead of the widely anticipated International Monetary Fund and Group of 20 meetings that analysts say could set trading moods for next week.
Those meetings "will continue to hold the market's attention, with likely short-term positive spinoffs early next week if [the] IMF confirms additional financial commitments from its members," OCBC said in a note.
For the near term, the Singapore dollar should remain rangebound as investors switch their attention to cross-currency pairs, DBS currency economist Philip Wee said.
"There are no clear themes at the moment, and not enough [bad news] for risk-off behavior," he said, noting that while concerns over U.S. growth and euro-zone debt remain, they are comparatively less acute than before.
"The dollar story isn't strong; the focus now is on the crosses...[the Singapore dollar] trades against a basket [of currencies] and it seems that crosses are cancelling each other out," Wee added, tipping the U.S. dollar to move within a S$1.2450-S$1.2550 range.
Longer-dated Singapore government bonds drew buyers, in line with U.S. Treasurys, as local stocks put on a lackluster performance.
-By Chun Han Wong, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 160; chunhan.wong@dowjones.com
