The uptrend on the local stock rise ringgit

Published: 2009/09/17

RINGGIT

THE ringgit ended higher against the US dollar prompted by the uptrend on Bursa Malaysia, dealers said yesterday.

At 5pm, the ringgit was quoted at 3.4770/4810 to the dollar compared with Tuesday's closing of 3.4980/4030.

The FBM KLCI closed 5.51 points higher at 1,212.98.

"The uptrend on the local stock market boosted the ringgit's fundamentals and the local unit is likely to continue its upward trend for the rest of the week," a dealer said.

The ringgit was lower against the Singapore dollar at 2.4613/4665 compared with 2.4575/4634 on Tuesday and eased against the yen at 3.8560/8613 from 3.8389/8465 previously.

The local unit rose against the British pound to 5.7336/7423 from 5.8133/8230 on Tuesday but declined against the euro to 5.1143/1209 from 5.1092/1175 previously.



INTERBANK RATES

SHORT-TERM rates closed on a steady note yesterday as Bank Negara Malaysia mopped up excess liquidity in the money market, dealers said.

The liquidity surplus in the market was reduced to RM20.02 billion in conventional operations and RM3.31 billion in Islamic funds.

The central bank had earlier forecast a total liquidity surplus of RM26.65 billion in conventional operations and RM6.22 billion in Islamic funds.

Bank Negara issued three conventional tenders, comprising RM3 billion each for two -weeks, 29-days and 44-days, as well as a repo tender for RM500 million of 42-day money.

It also offered three Al-Wadiah tenders, involving RM1 billion for nine-days and another RM1 billion for 28-days, and RM500 million for 14-days.

The central bank also called for two late tenders, involving RM20 billion of one-day money in conventional operations and an Al-Wadiah tender for RM3.3 billion of one-day money.



KLIBOR

THE three-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate (KLIBOR) futures closed unchanged yesterday with one contract month traded, dealers said. September 2009 was flat at 97.86 with 620 lots changing hands. The five-year Malaysian Government Securities futures was however untraded.

As at the 11am fixing, the underlying three-month KLIBOR was at 2.14 per cent. - Bernama