Ringgit at 10-month high in eary session

Published: 2009/10/01
The ringgit extended yesterday's gain to hit a 10-month high against the US dollar in early trading today, dealers said.

At 9am, the local unit was at 3.4520/4560 to a dollar compared with 3.4600/4630 at the close yesterday.

Dealers said the greenback fell against other major currencies as increased expectations that the US economy was recovering dampened safe-haven demand for the dollar.

The US economy contracted at a 0.7-per cent annual rate in the second quarter, instead of the 1.0 per cent decline reported last month.

A dealer said the thin liquidity at end of September and yesterday's news that Malaysia had won a US$1.5 billion investment deal from Saudi Arabia added fuel to the ringgit buying momentum.

The positive news might support the ringgit further, he said.

The Saudi investment is for a planned US$2.5 billion fund that will be set up by PetroSaudi International and a Malaysian government body called 1Malaysia Development.

"The longer-term trend for fund flows would still be positive as money continues to shift out of the US dollar, looking for better investment returns elsewhere," the dealer said.

The ringgit also rose against the Singapore dollar to 2.4498/4552 2.4527/4574, the Japanese yen to 3.8428/8494 from 3.8677/8714, the British pound to 5.5153/5237 from 5.5651/5716 and the euro to 5.0555/0627 from 5.0627/0674. -- Bernama