MONEY MARKET

SHORT-TERM rates are expected to remain stable on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity from the cash market.

During the week, the average Islamic overnight interest rate remained at 1.72 per cent, while the one-, two- and three-week rates stood at 1.78 per cent, 1.81 per cent and 1.85 per cent, respectively.

For the week just ended, the central bank intervened on a daily basis to reduce excess funds from the financial system by conducting conventional money market tenders, range maturity auction (RMA) tenders, Islamic range maturity auction (iRMA) Qard tenders and Commodity Murabahah Programme tender. The total liquidity surplus in the conventional system for the week rose to RM40.23 billion from RM30.59 billion in the preceding week, while in the Islamic system, it increased to RM17.04 billion from RM15.55 billion previously.