MYR (Malaysian Ringgit)

[winston]

Ringgit to pick up in second half of this year

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... this-year/

[winston]

CLSA’s Wood Is Bullish On Malaysia Ringgit, Stocks

By Shuli Ren

CLSA‘s well-respected equity strategist Christopher Wood is now bullish on Malaysia, even as oil prices nose dived this week. Malaysia is a rare net oil exporter in Asia.

The 1MDB scandal and the central bank’s decision to disallow foreigners to hedge in the currency futures market have caused great damage to Malaysia’s reputation.

The ringgit is now “extraordinarily cheap,” says Wood. It is now cheaper than even at the worst point of the Asian Financial Crisis, in terms of real effective exchange rate (see chart).

So for dollar-based foreign investors, buying Malaysian stocks means not only capital gain from stocks, but also favorable movements in the ringgit.

While it is true that Najib’s support rating is running at far from stellar levels, there is no hurry for him to go to the polls since a general election does not have to be held until August 2018.

CLSA now forecasts 8% earnings growth for 2017 with the recovery led by banks and plantations.

Source: Barron's Asia

http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks/201 ... it-stocks/

[winston]

Short-term money goes out of Malaysia

BY FINTAN NG

PETALING JAYA: Foreigners have sold RM21.71bil worth of government bonds in the last three months, reducing their share of holding in the debt papers to 28.7% as of end February from a peak of 34.7% last year.

According to Bank Negara, 70% of the debt papers that were sold by foreigners have less than three years to mature and the bulk of them will expire in less than a year.

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... money-out/

[winston]

Malaysia warns of currency crackdown to stabilise ringgit

Authorities plan to name and shame banks from next year that have been found guilty of misconduct.

In addition to naming the institution, the central bank will also disclose the amount of penalty imposed and the reason for the fine.

In January, Bank Negara Malaysia said it imposed a 1.4 million ringgit (US$316,000) fine on a lender, which it didn’t name, related to a case of currency fixing.

The central bank has also clamped down on foreign banks using offshore forwards to bet against the ringgit.

Source: SCMP

http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-fi ... se-ringgit

[winston]

Local currency stabilises after clampdown on derivative and hedging market

BY JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU

In December, Bank Negara imposed a requirement for exporters to convert at least 75% of their export proceeds to ringgit, which was a key move to defend the local currency’s value.

Year-to-date, some US$2bil has been converted into ringgit and that compares against an outflow of US$500mil in 2016 and US$8.4bil in 2015.

“Considering the US$372.9mil and US$741.3mil repatriated in December 2016 and January 2017, respectively, this implies that almost US$900mil was repatriated in February this year.”

In October last year, the total amount of MGS papers held by foreigners was RM184.6bil, which was a high. Based on the latest figures by Bank Negara, it was down to RM158.9bil as of end-February, meaning an outflow of RM25.7bil.

With yields spiking up as a result of the selling of the MGS, the share of foreign shareholding of the MGS too has fallen to 37%. If taken in its entirety, foreign shareholding of Malaysian debt, including private-sector debt, has fallen from about 35% to 26%, giving to an outflow of RM62bil.

The repatriation of monies by foreign workers in Malaysia, which hit RM30bil last year from RM17bil in 2008.

Other activities that have strained the ringgit’s value are the amount of money Malaysians spent when travelling overseas (RM42bil) and the amount paid for consultants for their advice (RM35bil).

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... vHMhkSe.99

[winston]

Challenges facing ringgit different from during Asian Financial Crisis: Former Bank Negara Malaysia head

Source: CNA

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/bus ... al-8999046

[winston]

Bank Negara slams SGX’s introduction of ringgit futures

BY M. HAFIDZ MAHPAR

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia has slammed the Singapore Exchange’s decision to introduce the ringgit futures, saying that the ringgit is a non-internationalised currency and thus offshore trading of ringgit on exchanges abroad is against the country’s policy.

The full statement is given below:

BNM Stance on Ringgit Currency Derivatives Products in Offshore Market

The recent introduction of the ringgit futures at the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) or ICE Futures Singapore is inconsistent with Malaysia’s foreign exchange administration (FEA) policy and rules.

The Malaysian ringgit is a non-internationalised currency and thus, offshore trading of ringgit, in any form whether as a non-deliverable forward traded out of offshore financial centres or as a futures, options and other derivative contracts on exchanges outside of Malaysia, is against Malaysia’s policy.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) would like to remind all market participants to observe the existing FEA rules. Contravention of the FEA is an offence under the Financial Services Act 2013 and Islamic Financial Services Act 2013.

Appropriate action under the law will be taken against any person that does not comply with prevailing rules and regulations.

Foreign participants should access the onshore ringgit foreign exchange market to meet their financial needs, either directly with onshore licensed financial institutions or their Appointed Overseas Office (AOO).

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... zKgh4CF.99

[winston]

Trump thanks Najib as Malaysia looks to buy US$10 billion jets

Malaysia Airlines would buy 25 Boeing 737 jets and eight 787 Dreamliners, and would probably add another 25 737s in the near future, a deal he said would be worth more than US$10 billion within five years.

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) wanted to spend US$3 billion to US$4 billion on US infrastructure development.

Source: Free Malaysia

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/catego ... lion-jets/

[winston]

Two Things Might Put Malaysia's Currency Rally at Risk

By Y-Sing Liau and Netty Idayu Ismail

Upcoming election may complicate timing for rate hike: NAB
Schroder sees hawkish BNM, higher oil supporting ringgit

Source: Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... t-to-polls

[winston]

Chart of the day: Malaysian ringgit on way to basing

by Nicole Elliott

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved parliament on Friday, paving the way for a general election in which he will compete against his old adversary, veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad.

Because the result is considered to be the most unpredictable in the country’s history, let’s see if the chart of Malaysia’s currency can help shed some light.

The salient feature of this monthly chart is the drop from nearly 4.47 Malaysian ringgit to the US dollar both in 2015-16 and 2017-18.

Hovering at Fibonacci 38 per cent retracement support, almost oversold, and with an extreme reading of the MACD, it is likely to try to base slowly around the 3.85-ringgit area.

Source: SCMP

http://www.scmp.com/business/markets/ar ... way-basing