Monday 21 November 2016

Bank Negara Malaysia. Titik Terang,Tiada Datang

Is a phrase taken from Jamal Mirdad's monster love ballard ,"Hati Lebur Jadi Debu".
Bank Negara Malaysia, better manage this public relations exercise fast before everything ends up in "DEBU".
This time, the Financial Times has the story :

The Malaysian central bank’s moves to curb what it describes as “speculative and damaging” offshore trading in the ringgit are causing disquiet among investors and raising concerns about the regulator’s handling of the markets.

Bank Negara Malaysia has asked foreign banks to commit to stop trading the ringgit — Asia’s worst-performing currency against the US dollar in 2015 — in the offshore non-deliverable forwards market.

Malaysian debt is popular with overseas investors, who hold 36 per cent of Malaysian government securities — by contrast, global funds hold 15 per cent of Thai treasury bills and government bonds. The popularity of Malaysian debt has prompted concerns that overseas investors will no longer be able to hedge their exposure.

One banker in Southeast Asia said: “It’s a situation where you can’t exit the market. If you want to exchange ringgit for dollar you have to give an attestation that the client is not involved in the offshore market. You can give it for one or two specific clients but for most clients you can’t give it.” Foreign fund managers have been disconcerted by the action, the banker added.

A foreign investor said the Malaysian move was odd for the country, which is usually regarded as a steady bet. The Malaysian securities market is only “just about” functioning, the investor added.