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The euro continued to drop while the pound rallied, as investors reconsider their forecasts for interest rates in the euro zone and United Kingdom.

Softer economic data from the euro zone — with the German Ifo indicator falling unexpectedly on Thursday and M3 money supply easing to an annual rate of 10.3 percent in March — has cast doubt on the ability of the region to ‘de-couple’ from the U.S. recession and global financial crisis. Read more

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

Siddique Islam - AHN South Asia Correspondent

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - The central bank of Bangladesh on Thursday sold more the U.S. dollar as a part of its ongoing intervention to keep the foreign exchange market stable, officials say in Dhaka. The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, sold US$20 million at prevailing market rate to two commercial banks on the day to meet the growing demand for the currency.

The central bank of Bangladesh started intervening in the inter-bank foreign exchange market through selling of U.S. dollar in October, 2007 aiming to keep the market stable. The BB has since sold over $520 million to the commercial banks as part of its intervention in the market, the central bank officials confirmed.

The central bank is continuously selling the U.S. dollar to the commercial banks giving priority to help settlement of import payment bills for essential items including food grains and petroleum products, they noted. They also said the central bank will continue its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market to help the commercial banks settle their import bills for essentials.

Meanwhile, the money market was active, as banks and financial institutions borrowed cash at high rates from the inter-bank market to meet urgent requirements of their clients, treasury officials said.

Copyright © AHN Media Corp - All rights reserved.
Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.

This is an excerpt from a Market Insight comment that Elliott Wave International’s Senior Currency Strategist Jim Martens posted for his Currency Specialty Service readers on April 1: Read more

The ringgit opened higher against the U.S. dollar Monday on strong buying of the local unit amid a weaker greenback, a dealer said.

At 9.00 am, the ringgit was traded at 3.1860/1890 against the U.S. dollar, up from 3.1920/1940 at last Friday’s closing.

The dealer attributed the ringgit’s uptrend against the greenback this morning to market players’ reaction to the bearish U.S. employment data released last Friday.

The latest U.S. employment data reported the biggest monthly drop in jobs in five years, raising concern that the world’s largest economy might already be in the early stage of recession.

“The ringgit is likely to move within a tight range of between 3.18 and 3.20 against the greenback this week as there is no major events expected to stimulate the local currency,” added the dealer.

Against other major currencies, the ringgit was traded mixed.

It depreciated against the Singapore dollar at 2.3052/3084 from 2.3045/3090 last Friday’s closing and it weakened against the Japanese yen at 3.1183/1216 from 3.1155/1187 previously.

Compared with the pound sterling, the ringgit appreciated at 6.3414/3490 from 6.3827/3896 and it also strengthened against the euro at 5.0004/0061 from 5.0137/0178 previously.

– BERNAMA

The dollar rallied against the yen on Monday, making up for losses suffered after a weak U.S. employment report, as traders focused on fund allocations by Japanese investors at the start of a new financial year. Read more

The Philippines’ gross international reserves, or GIR, reached a record $36.5 billion in March, rising mainly due to accumulation of dollars by the central bank and income from investments abroad, the central bank said. Read more

The U.S. dollar was trading firmer against major currencies in Asian afternoon trade on Friday as investors braced themselves ahead of the release of U.S. jobs data for March later tonight.

At 12:20 p.m. (0415 GMT), the U.S. dollar was trading at 102.62 yen, up from 102.32 yen in Sydney this morning. The euro was at $1.5653, down from $1.5662 in Sydney. Read more

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was firmer against other major currencies in Asian morning trading Monday, continuing its rebound late last week, but was held within narrow ranges, with Asian players unwilling to move the market because of a lack of fresh trading leads and in the absence of players from further afield because of public holidays. Read more