Ringgit continues upward momentum

THE ringgit continued its upward momentum to close higher against the US dollar yesterday on continued demand for the local unit amid the greenback's weaker performance, dealers said.They said the local unit closed at 3.4920/4970 against the greenback compared with 3.5070/5100 on Monday.A dealer said the current stability in crude oil prices, coupled with gains on stock markets, had convinced traders to buy the ringgit.

"The ringgit is expected to remain steady at current levels on mounting expectation of global economic recovery, which in turn would help lift demand for the local unit.The ringgit closed mixed against other major currencies.Against the Singapore dollar, it strengthened to 2.4365/4420 from 2.4394/4443 on Monday and appreciated against the yen at 3.6917/6990 from 3.6962/7010 previously.

It, however, dipped against the British pound to 5.9273/9369 from 5.9061/9115 on Monday and also against the euro at 5.0320/0402 from 5.0055/0109 previously. INTERBANK RATESSHORT-TERM rates were steady at close yesterday as Bank Negara Malaysia continued to intervene through its tenders to absorb surplus funds in the money market, a dealer said.

As a result, the liquidity surplus in the conventional operations was reduced to RM18.87 billion and in Islamic funds, to RM5.24 billion.The central bank had earlier estimated the day's surplus at RM29.90 billion in the conventional operations and RM9.67 billion in Islamic funds.

Bank Negara had earlier called for four tenders in the conventional operations, four Al-Wadiah tenders and a repo tender.It also called for two late tenders, involving RM18.8 billion of one-day money in the conventional operations and an Al-Wadiah tender of RM5.2 billion, for one day.The overnight rate was quoted at 1.91 per cent while the one-week, two-week and three-week rates were at 1.94, 1.97 and 1.98 per cent respectively.

KLIBORTHE three-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate (KLIBOR) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were dominated by strip trades at close yesterday, dealers said.A total of 19 contract months, from August 2009 to June 2014, were traded unchanged at 50 lots each. There was also an outright transaction involving the contract month of September 2010.

The underlying three-month rate stood at 2.14 per cent.The five-year Malaysian Government Securities futures, were however, untraded throughout the day. - Bernama