USD/SGD: Range trade with defensive profile – OCBC

OCBC strategists Sim Moh Siong and Christopher Wong describe USD/SGD as slipping on broad USD weakness and expects two‑way, range‑bound trading in the near term, with resistance around 1.2780–1.2850 and support near 1.2720–1.2670. They note that Singapore Dollar (SGD) is likely to behave as a regional defensive currency, holding up better than higher‑beta FX if geopolitical uncertainties persist, supported by stronger domestic data.

Defined range and defensive SGD

"USD/SGD slipped amid broad USD pullback. Pair was last at 1.2745 levels. Daily momentum and RSI indicators are not showing a clear bias. 2-way trades likely in the interim. Resistance at 1.2780/1.28 levels (100 DMA, 38.2% fibo retracement of 2026 low to high), 1.2850 (200 DMA, 23.6% fibo). Support at 1.2720 levels (61.8% fibo), 1.2670 (76.4% fibo)."

"On relative terms, SGD can continue to trade like a regional defensive play, holding up better against higher-beta FX should geopolitical uncertainties continued to persist. "

"On data released yesterday, Singapore’s industrial production accelerated to 10.1% YoY in March, picking up speed from the upwardly revised February readings of 3.3% YoY. Electronics was the outperformer again at 30% YoY, followed by precision engineering, general manufacturing while output for both the biomedical and chemicals clusters both fell."

"Our economists noted that 1Q26 GDP growth is likely to be revised up from the advance estimate of 4.6% YoY to 5.2% YoY ceteris paribus as the manufacturing sector growth is likely to be notched higher to 7.9%YoY based on the March print versus the advance estimate of 5.0% YoY."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)