Singapore dollar edges past major counterparts

The bulls for now seems to be taking a breather as stocks in Asia and the United States have handed over their gains, snapping a streak of solid gains seen over the last past week.

Unsurprisingly, risky currencies also withdrew against the greenback despite the fact that the Singapore dollar edged surprisingly higher versus its major counterparts.

During the early sessions, the Singapore dollar edged the greenback higher to $1.4413 and just slightly fell by evening to $1.4419.
 
The Singapore dollar edged higher versus the euro, going up to $2.0585 versus the euro, compared a day earlier with $2.0604. Gains were also experienced in the pair of Singdollar-Sterling.

Elsewhere, regional currencies withdrew against the greenback due to risk aversion. For instance, the Australian dollar went down 0.2% to US$0.8354 and nearly dropped 1% to ¥78.45 of Japan.

After Wall Street largely ended unchanged, Asian stocks mostly ended flat yesterday, as dealers sold down again on US stocks based on economic concerns.

US counters suchlike Fannie Mae, AIG and Citigroup initially charged higher, yet sharply gain in the debt prices of the US Treasury, which controlled benchmark yields lower, initiated those stocks in a sell-off.

It was a combined scene in Asia, where some markets lost and while others gained. For instance, mainland stocks dropped for a fourth day, which is the longest losing streak of the Shanghai Composite Index this year.

OCBC economist Enrico Tanuwidjaja stated that the concern will be based on the slowing loan growth that will eat into power demand, margins and curb housing.

In contrast, about 0.25% was gained by Straits Times Index.

Investors showed short reaction to the statement of the White House with the reappointment of Ben Bernanke, the chairman of Federal Reserve, for another term as the head of the central bank.

Analysts stated that the decision got rid of the uncertainty about the US monetary policy outlook and was inert for US assets.

Some analysts stated that it would have been negative decision not to reassign Mr. Bernanke as it may risk politicising the post of the Fed chief simultaneously when investors worry about the US deficit records.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan shed 0.79% after jumping 3.4% the previous day, which is the biggest one-day gain it had in three-months.

The general election in Japan on August 30 is now being sighted by foreign investors during the past few weeks while they were busy returning monies into Japanese stocks.

The green back plunged versus the Japanese yen and was slightly down against other currencies, with a rebound of the yen after experiencing a broad slide from the previous day. The greenback shed about 0.6% to ¥93.9 of Japan but later reached 94.27.