By Bob Chen
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s ringgit rose, following its biggest weekly gain since a fixed rate to the dollar was scrapped in 2005, as Asian stocks advanced on speculation U.S. automakers will get government money to avoid bankruptcy.
The ringgit traded near the strongest level in a month after the administration of George W. Bush said Dec. 12 it may tap a bank bailout fund for financing General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Bush said en route to Afghanistan today that he wasn’t ready to announce any decision on a plan for automakers.
“There’s some improvement in sentiment,” said Thomas Harr, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore. “The market has been very long dollars and is cutting some of these positions now,” he said, referring to a strategy where investors were betting on gains in the U.S. currency.
The ringgit rose as much as 0.8 percent to 3.5555 per dollar in Kuala Lumpur, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was at 3.5615 as of 9:38 a.m. local time.
GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner spoke with White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson about a short-term plan to keep the automaker solvent, a person familiar with the talks said. The talks followed a statement by the White House that it would consider using the Troubled Asset Relief Program to help GM and Chrysler LLC following the Senate’s rejection of an aid package the night before.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Chen in Hong Kong at bchen45@bloomberg.net.
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