SHORT-TERM RATES TO REMAIN STEADY NEXT WEEK

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 (Bernama) -- Short-term rates are expected to remain steady next week on Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity in the cash market. For the week just ended, the overnight Islamic reference rate remained at the previous week’s 3.19 per cent, while the one-, two- and three-week rates also stayed at 3.26 per cent, 3.30 per cent and 3.35 per cent respectively. During the week, the Malaysian central bank intervened on a daily basis to absorb excess funds from the financial system by conducting Qard tenders, conventional money market tenders, reverse repo tenders, as well as  Commodity Murabahah programmes. The BNM also called for an Islamic range maturity auction and an Islamic range maturity auction Qard tender. The total liquidity surplus in the conventional system for the week fell to RM16.77 billion from RM26.70 billion last Friday, while in the Islamic system, it declined to RM13.10 billion from RM28.68 billion. -- BERNAMA