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KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Bernama) — The ringgit was in a firm position against the U.S. dollar at close today on strong demand for the local unit as the greenback lost its attractiveness in overseas markets, a dealer said.

At 5pm, the ringgit was traded stronger against the U.S. dollar at 3.1750/1785 from 3.1880/1900 at yesterday’s closing.

The dealer indicated that today’s steady ringgit movement against the U.S. dollar was due to market players shifting their positions towards the Asian markets following growing negative news over the U.S. economy.

“Investors prefer to invest in Asian countries, including Malaysia, where interest rates are expected to trend higher, so they can potentially reap higher yields,” she added.

According to the dealer, some investors also kept to the sidelines to await tomorrow’s rate decisions by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank as well as the meeting of the group of rich nations or G7 on Friday.

The meeting will be attended by finance ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S. to discuss the global economy amid turmoil in the credit markets, including the weakness of the greenback.

The dealer is also expecting the greenback to continue to decline on expectations of further cuts in the U.S. interest rates at the Fed policy meeting on April 29-30.

“Another cut may trigger another round of sell-off on the greenback as investors are losing their confidence in the U.S. markets. This is likely to support the ringgit and it could break into the 3.15 level,” she added.

The ringgit was also traded higher today against other major currencies, rising against the Singapore dollar to 2.3007/3040 from 2.3078/3113 at yesterday’s closing and appreciating against the Japanese yen at 3.1044/1067 from 3.1224/1256.

Compared with the euro, the ringgit was up, to 4.9965/9014 from 5.0233/0271 yesterday and also against the pound sterling at 6.2597/2649 from 6.3001/3054.

BERNAMA