KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Malaysia’s ringgit halted a four-day decline after crude prices posted the biggest gain in three weeks overnight, easing concern that the oil-exporting nation’s finances will deteriorate.
Brent has rebounded almost 22 per cent since the end of March, helping the ringgit strengthen 2.8 per cent. A government report Friday may show Malaysia’s first-quarter current-account surplus held at the lowest since 2013 as oil retreated 51 per cent in the nine months through March. A gauge of the dollar was steady after sliding yesterday before retail sales data that may help determine the timing of US rate increases.
“The higher crude oil price is positive for the ringgit,” said Sim Moh Siong, a foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of Singapore Ltd. “The broad dollar was also on the back foot overnight ahead of the US retail sales data.”
The ringgit advanced 0.4 per cent to 3.6017 a dollar as of 9.36am in Kuala Lumpur, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the steepest gain in a week.
The surplus in Malaysia’s broadest measure of trade was probably RM6.1 billion (US$1.7 billion) in the three months to March, according to a Bloomberg survey. That would match the previous quarter’s figure. Economic growth for the same period slowed to 5.4 per cent from 5.8 per cent, separate data may show.
Malaysia’s government bonds were little changed after figures Yesterday showed overseas investors boosted holdings of the debt to a record. Global funds bought a net 11 billion ringgit of the securities in April from a month earlier, the biggest inflow since at least 2006 and bringing the holdings to RM168 billion, according to central bank data.
The five-year yield was at 3.6 per cent, after rising one basis point yesterday. — Reuters
