SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--The Singapore dollar regained some lost ground late in Asia Tuesday, but remained broadly in a range as market participants awaited events in Europe that will give clues about the progress in resolving the euro zone's sovereign debt troubles.
The U.S. dollar was quoted at S$1.2525 near the close of the Asian trading session, compared with S$1.2602 around the same time Monday and a high of S$1.2626 touched in New York trade overnight.
Market participants are likely to look for trading cues from the European Central Bank's second 3-year long-term refinancing operation, or LTRO, on Wednesday, and also from a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Thursday, said a trader at a regional bank.
"I think the market will react to it [the amount offered in the LTRO], but until then, investors may remain on the sidelines," the trader said, tipping a range of S$1.2500 to S$1.2600 until the announcement.
Analysts said that while the LTRO amount is likely to support riskier assets such as equities and currencies that are linked to global economic growth, a very high amount may underscore the weakness in Europe and hurt sentiment.
Investors in Singapore government bonds too were waiting for cues from Europe, leaving the securities little changed Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rose one basis point, or a hundredth of a percentage point, to 1.51%, whereas the yield on the two-year bond was unchanged at 0.28%.
-By Gaurav Raghuvanshi, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 154; gaurav.raghuvanshi@dowjones.com
