Ringgit gains as Bank Negara eases regulations

RINGGIT

THE ringgit ended higher against the US dollar yesterday on news that Bank Negara Malaysia had eased regulations on ringgit transactions for trade settlement.

At 5pm, the ringgit traded at 3.1330/1370 to the US dollar, up from Wednesday's close of 3.1540/1570.

The local currency surged to a 28-month high, its strongest level since April 28 2008, a forex dealer said in Kuala Lumpur.

At the close, the ringgit was higher against other major currencies.

The local unit gained against the Singapore dollar to 2.3139/3189 from 2.3277/3320 yesterday, and against the yen to 3.6583/6643 from 3.6915/6963.

The ringgit rose against the pound sterling to 4.8978/8047 from 4.9224/9281 on Wednesday, and against the euro to 4.0146/0204 from 4.0620/0668.

INTERBANK RATES

SHORT-TERM rates closed stable yesterday with Bank Negara Malaysia mopping up excess liquidity from the system, dealers said.

The operations reduced the surplus to RM11.92 billion in conventional operations and RM4.80 billion in Islamic funds.

Bank Negara had earlier estimated a surplus of RM14.34 billion in conventional operations and RM5.44 billion in Islamic funds.

The central bank also called for a late conventional tender for RM9.5 billion of one-day money and an Al-Wadiah tender for RM4.3 billion of one-day money.

The overnight rate was quoted at 2.72 per cent. The one-week, two-week and three-week rates were pegged at 2.76, 2.78 and 2.79 per cent respectively.

KLIBOR

THE three-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate (KLIBOR) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed untraded yesterday, dealers said.

The five-year Malaysian Government Securities futures was also untraded.

The underlying three-month KLIBOR was unchanged at 2.92 per cent. - Bernama