SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) – The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said domestic inflationary pressures remain well-contained and do not require a change in its monetary policy.

‘Abstracting from the one-off effects of the goods and services tax (GST) hike (from 5 percent to 7 percent), underlying inflationary pressures remain generally well-contained for the current advanced stage of the business cycle,’ MAS said in a statement.

The Singapore government continues to expect inflation to come in within its 1-2 percent target for this year despite a recent spike in consumer prices. The consumer price index rose an annual 2.6 percent in July as the GST hike took effect.

‘MAS’ monetary policy stance of a modest and gradual appreciation of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) policy band remains in place. MAS will continue to monitor closely the price and cost developments in the economy and review the policy stance in October 2007,’ MAS said.

The MAS manages the Singapore dollar NEER against a basket of trade-weighted currencies.

Original article here.

With the strong (and overly strict?) government in place, Singapore dollar is always my favorite when considering some long term low risk way of parking some of my savings. One of the big catch to me is that the monetary policy of Singapore is centered around the exchange and the MAS steps in to curb the volatility.

And here is another idea that suggest Singapore Dollar May Fund Carry trades.

Winter doesn’t seem to be over yet for Aussie dollar. It takes another week or so to see if a higher low can be formed and resume it’s uptrend. It just failed to close above 200-day moving average, while weekly, it is stuck between the zone 20-week and 50-week average. I am not turning bearish right away, though it does look ugly for bulls now. I am watching the support around the area of 0.865.

[photopress:audusd_daily31aug2007.gif,full,alignleft]

Not a great day for me. Extremely busy working day and my profitable long position of Aussie and short position of loonies are stopped out. Oh well, if only I can monitor the position closer, I would have a better exit. I am flat or maybe slightly down for the week.

Finally we see a breakout of Aussie dollar. I was long since yesterday, but was stopped out. I entered another long position today after the release of the much expected interest rate raise.

[photopress:Aussie08aug2007.PNG,full,alignleft]

I went short on USD/CAD since yesterday and held overnight. Though both Aussie and looney trades are winning trades, I grade my own performance rather poor. I lost my patience to hold on winner. (Good old problem again). The fear of losing profit affects my performance and limits my profit. This is something that needs to be overcome.

[photopress:USDCAD08aug2007.PNG,full,alignleft]

When will I ever correct my bad habit of exiting a trade too early? Fool. I made two trades today. Aussie started to bounce. A nice one, while looney started to tank again. Another nice one. I managed to grab some profit from short position of USD/CAD, +0.65 R, while break even from Aussie dollar.

Two good entries, but two bad exits. Oh well…what the hell were you thinking, Mr. Gavin?

[photopress:ShortLooney06Aug2007.GIF,full,alignleft]

[photopress:LongAussie06Aug2007.JPG,full,alignleft]

I thought it was going down, but it did not.

I thought it was going to bounce, yet it did not.

That’s my comment for Aussie dollar. I do not initiate position just yet. I would prefer to watch the price action a little bit longer. Overall, I am positive on Aussie dollar trend, at least for now. (You’ll never know, I might go short tomorrow 😉 )

[photopress:audusd_daily03aug2007.gif,full,alignleft]

Here we go. How about some Looneys? I am tempted to go short. What do you think? Let’s see how it goes.

[photopress:usdcad_daily03aug2007.gif,full,alignleft]