Ringgit end higher against US dollar

RINGGIT

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed higher against the US dollar on renewed buying interest for the local unit, in line with better local bourse movements, dealers said.

The ringgit was quoted at 3.0985/1030 to the US dollar compared with 3.1015/1045 yesterday.

A dealer said better-than-expected US housing starts as well as consumer confidence data, lifted investor appetite for riskier assets, including the ringgit.

It was traded higher against the Singapore dollar at 2.4996/5034 from 2.5032/5059 on Tuesday but was little changed against the yen to 3.3764/3820 from 3.3705/3741 previously.

It rose against the British pound to 4.6868/6945 from 4.7047/7098 on Tuesday and appreciated against the euro to 4.0531/0597 from 4.0546/0594 previously.

INTERBANK RATES

KUALA LUMPUR: Short-term rates closed stable yesterday as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) continued to intervene to absorb excess liquidity from the financial system.

Liquidity surplus in the conventional operations was trimmed to RM20.00 billion from RM32.40 billion estimated in the morning while the excess in the Islamic system eased to RM3.07 billion from RM6.01 billion.

The central bank conducted four tenders comprising one range maturity auction, one repo and two Al-Wadiah. BNM also issued a late tender for RM20 billion in the conventional operations and a RM3 billion Al-Wadiah tender, both for one day.

The overnight rate stood at 2.92 per cent while the one-, two- and three-week rates were pegged at 2.98, 3.01 and 3.04 per cent respectively.

KLIBOR

KUALA LUMPUR: The three-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate (KLIBOR) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed untraded yesterday.

Spot month March 2013, April 2013 and May 2013 were unchanged at 96.79 each while June 2013 remained pegged at 96.78. Open interest stood at 11,215 contracts.

At 11am fixing, the underlying three-month KLIBOR stood at 3.21 per cent. - Bernama