Ringgit higher in line with region

RINGGIT

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed higher against the US dollar yesterday, in line with advances in regional Asian currencies, dealers said.

The South Korean Won and Taiwan dollar lead the gains among Asian currencies, fuelled by strong buying on expectations that more monetary stimulus in the Asian region will boost the economic outlook in growing economies.

The ringgit rose to 3.1001/1020 from 3.1055/1085 previously.

The local currency gained against the Singapore dollar at 2.4902/4924 from 2.4908/4936 and fell versus the Japanese yen at 3.3299/3333 from 3.3175/3214 previously.

It fell against the British pound at 4.6951/6992 from 4.6704/6758 and was lower against the euro at 4.0525/0559 from 4.0399/0442.

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 RM18.59 billion from RM27.79 billion estimated in the morning while the excess in the Islamic system eased to RM2.78 billion from RM7.02 billion earlier.

The central bank conducted 10 tenders comprising four conventional, two repo and four Al-Wadiah tenders. BNM also issued a late tender for RM18.8 billion in the conventional operations and a RM2 billion Al-Wadiah tender, both for one day.

The overnight rate stood at 2.90 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 was pegged at 96.78. Open interest stood at 11,215 contracts.

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