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KUALA LUMPUR, (Bernama) — The ringgit is expected to record new 10-year high against the U.S. dollar next week on the greenback’s weakness following market participants’ persistent fear over the fate of the U.S. economy, dealers said. Read more

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The U.S. dollar has been struggling against the yen as risk appetite has fallen following a slide in US stocks, prompted by weak earnings at the world’s biggest industrial conglomerate General Electric Co. Read more

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Lombard Finance has been placed in receivership owing its 4400 investors $127 million, after the firm’s trustee rejected directors’ proposals to implement a moratorium.

Perpetual Trust chief executive Louise Edwards, in calling in receivers last night, said “no compelling reason” existed for the proposed moratorium.

“The interests of investors will be better served by appointing receivers to independently address the issues the company has.”

John Waller and John Fisk, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, have been named receivers.

Lombard Finance, part of the listed Lombard Group, is the 17th finance firm to get into trouble in less than two years. The money hit by finance company problems is now over $2 billion.

The receivership also applies to other subsidiaries, Lombard Asset Finance, Lombard Property Holdings and Lombard Asset Finance No 2 Lombard Group itself is unaffected.

Edwards said all payments of interest and principal to Lombard Finance debenture holders had been suspended with repayment to be announced.

By DAVID HARGREAVES - The Press

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Forex reserves rose USD 2,724 million to touch USD 311,885 million as on Apr. 11, 2008, mainly due to the increase in foreign currency and assets collections, on a weekly basis.

As per the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released on Apr. 11, 2008, foreign currency and assets moved up USD 2,247 million to USD 301,394 million.

During the same period, the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced by USD 3 million to USD 434 million. While, gold reserves increased by USD 481 million to USD 10,039 million.

Foreign currency assets expressed in USD include the effect of appreciation or depreciation on non-US currencies (such as Euro, Sterling and Yen) held in reserves.

By IRIS

NEW YORK, (Reuters) - The euro again targeted record highs against the dollar on Monday after higher-than-forecast euro-zone price data reinforced expectations that the inflation-focused European Central Bank will not start cutting rates soon. Read more

A $1.2 million tourism campaign will highlight the biggest events in Sydney’s calendar in a bid to attract more visitors to the city, the NSW government says.

State Tourism Minister Brown officially launched the campaign - dubbed Sydney, Designed to Inspire - at a breakfast at the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday. Read more

United Arab Emirates foreign exchange reserves surged 50 per cent in November, the most in at least 18 years, to $75 billion, a central bank treasury official said on Thursday.

That was the same month UAE Central Bank Governor Sultan Nasser Al Suweidi said the world’s fifth-largest oil producer was under pressure to drop its peg to the dollar and might consider linking to a basket instead.

Reserves jumped from $50.4 billion the month before, the biggest rise since data going back to 1990. The central bank official did not want to be identified.

-Reuters

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

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The dollar and pound remained weaker against other major currencies after a report from the International Monetary Fund slashed global economic growth forecasts, particularly for the United States and United Kingdom. Read more

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A United Arab Emirates committee charged with studying foreign exchange policy has recommended that the oil producer should keep its dirham peg to the ailing US dollar at the same rate, state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) said. Read more