Singapore dollar trades at $1.2653

The local currency has regained some territory on the US dollar coming off the $1.27 level, says IG Markets Singapore.

IG Markets Singapore said:

The Singapore dollar has regained some territory on the greenback coming off the $1.27 level to trade at $1.2653 this morning.

Last week the US dollar was trading at above $1.27 against the local currency as sentiment looked downbeat about the global economy, heading into the announcement on China’s GDP.

The fears of a major slowdown in the world’s second biggest economy were overcooked and growth came in as expected. This gave markets a welcome lift and saw flights to safe havens ease off.

US corporate earnings, notably from JP Morgan, have also come in better-than-expected which has improved risk sentiment.

Singapore has its own corporate earnings to digest this week as the local season kicks off today.

BK Asset Management meanwhile noted (for 13 July 2012 trading):

QE3 or no QE3 will remain one of the primary questions that investors will seek answers to in the new trading week.

Although the rally in the U.S. dollar against the euro and other major currencies suggests that traders are lowering their bets on a third round of stimulus, the inconsistent movements in other markets indicates that many market participants are still undecided.

A quick survey will show that expectations for QE3 are very malleable at this point which is what makes next week's economic reports so important.

RBS, on the other hand, reported (for 13 July 2012 trading):

Action was mostly muted but risk oriented currencies and US equities outperformed to close out the week.

Early in the session EUR/USD jumped nearly 60 pips back above 1.2200 without a clear catalyst as the USD weakened across the G10. We still see USD positioning as particularly long, meaning that the rally may have been due to stop losses and short covering in long USD holdings.

Indeed, our calculations based on the latest IMM data as of the week ended 10 July showed an increase in net long USD positioning. Speculators increased net short positioning in the EUR from -146k contracts to -166k.

Positioning in JPY remained net long at 9k versus 4k previously while net long positioning surged in the AUD from 9k to 19k. Net long positioning was reduced in CAD to just 4k, the lowest level since 7 February 2012.