SINGAPORE -- The Singapore dollar stood out for its relative steadiness in Asia on Wednesday, keeping to a tight range two days ahead of an anticipated policy easing even as stocks and other regional currencies plummeted in a deepening global credit crisis.

The Singapore dollar held around 1.47 per US dollar even as the yen soared to levels of 100 per dollar, the Aussie plunged and the Korean won hit its lowest levels since the Asian financial crisis.

"US houses have been buying, but the market is thin and volumes low. Most people prefer to stay on the sidelines and wait for Friday," said a Singapore-based trader.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) reviews its monetary policy for the second time this year on Friday.

Most analysts expect policy, which is run through the currency, will be loosened by either slowing the appreciation of the currency or shifting the trade-weighted target for the currency lower.

Those expectations have heightened this month as global central banks increased support lines and swap arrangements to prop up seized-up markets, and after China, Taiwan and India eased policy.

The Singapore dollar has declined 4.4 percent against the US dollar in the past two weeks.

Analysts estimate that the currency is already on the weaker side of the secretive trade-weighted band within which the central bank guides it as a monetary policy lever.

Bank of America analyst Han-Sia Yeo said the trade-weighted currency peaked in July.

Traders have been positioning for easier monetary conditions in Singapore as they watched the global credit crisis unfold and as risks of a recession grow.

But the normal pull-back in positioning in days immediately preceding the policy was conspicuously absent.

Traders said one reason for the Singapore dollar's sluggishness was that it was being supported by safe-haven inflows into the country.

"These are not normal conditions," said Bank of America's Yeo. "With China easing, others are probably not far behind," he said.