SINGAPORE -- Asian currencies moved in tight ranges on Tuesday as investors avoided risky bets after disappointing results posted by the largest US retail bank kept concerns about the fallout of the global credit crisis alive.

The Thai baht edged up to 31.49 per dollar and traders said they expected the currency to remain "stuck" at levels around 31.45 to 31.55 later in the day.

The Singapore dollar rose less than 0.1 percent from Monday's close to 1.3516 per US dollar, just shy of its record high hit on Thursday.

"Focus continued to be on first-quarter earnings for the lack of anything else for the markets to take cues from," Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Forecast in Singapore, said in a note.

Bank of America Corp., the largest US retail bank, reported a 77 percent decline in quarterly profits as net income dropped to $1.21 billion from $5.26 billion.

The US dollar held steady after the announcement, but investors in Asia held back, waiting for more quarterly earnings reports to shed more light on the health of the global economy.

"In fact, all traders are sidelined and are reluctant to create any positions," said Koon Yin Lam, a Hong Kong-based trader at The Agricultural Bank of China.

"Now, we are waiting for the US and European banks' earnings reports and will watch for their impact on the foreign exchange and stock markets," he said.

The South Korean won lagged its peers and fell 0.4 percent to 995.7 as US crude oil prices soared to another record high on Monday, fanning fears of a downturn in the local economy, which relies heavily on oil imports.

South Korea is the world's fifth largest crude buyer.

The won climbed more than 1.0 percent in the previous session.