Pakistan's forex reserves fall to $10.05 bln

KARACHI, March 12 (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell by $90 million to $10.05 billion in the week that ended on March 7, the central bank said on Thursday.

The State Bank of Pakistan's reserves dropped to $6.61 billion from $6.69 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks slipped to $3.44 billion from $3.45 billion, the bank said.

Pakistan's foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell to $6.6 billion in November, largely because of a soaring import bill.

Pakistan signed a $7.6 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund in November to stave off a balance of payments crisis. It received its first tranche of $3.1 billion that month.

The next tranche of about $840 million is expected by the end of March. (Reporting by Sahar Ahmed; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Forex reserves increase by $109 million

KARACHI: The country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $109 million during the last week ending on March 14, 2009, reveals State Bank of Pakistan’s statistics on Thursday. The country’s foreign exchange reserves reached $10.161 billion on March 14 as compared with $10.052 billion last week. The reserves held by the central bank witnessed a major increase of $76 million to reach $6.689 billion as compared to $6.613 billion last week. Reserves held by banks (other than SBP), similarly, witnessed an increase of $32 million to reach $3.471 billion as against $3.439 billion last week. staff report

FOREX-US dollar gains vs euro as ECB, G20 meetings loom

By Steven C. Johnson

NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose against the euro but was little changed against the yen on Wednesday as caution before a Group of 20 summit and a European Central Bank meeting blunted news of more U.S. job losses last month.

The ECB is expected to cut its benchmark interest rate to 1.0 percent on Thursday and markets are on alert for any sign that officials are moving toward unconventional policy measures such as buying corporate or government debt to boost the money supply.

That overshadowed data from ADP Employer Services showing the United States shed another 742,000 private sector jobs in March which strategists said bodes ill for the government's more comprehensive employment report on Friday.

"The jobs numbers are pretty bad, but people have settled into accepting that reality," said UBS currency strategist Brian Kim. "There's more concern with positioning ahead of the G20 and ECB meetings."

The euro was changing hands at $1.3220 , down 0.2 percent. The dollar was unchanged at 98.92 yen while the euro was also little changed at 130.80 yen .

The yen was hit by a record low in the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey of manufacturer confidence, adding to fears of a a deepening recession for the Japanese economy.

Sterling rose 0.6 percent to $1.4404 after data showed the rate of decline in Britain's manufacturing sector eased by more than expected last month. A U.S. report also showed the pace of manufacturing contraction slowed slightly.

The dollar had climbed even higher after Bloomberg reported President Barack Obama was leaning toward bankruptcy for General Motors and Chrysler but retreated when the White House said the report was "not accurate."

Uncertainty tends to attract safe-haven flows into the dollar from higher-yield currencies and assets such as stocks.

FOREX: Ringgit Closes Unchanged Against U.S. Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Bernama) -- The ringgit closed unchanged against the US dollar today despite the gains on Bursa Malaysia, dealers said.

The ringgit was little changed at 3.6450/6500 against the greenback from the 3.6450/6480 at yesterday's closing.

Dealers said trading on the forex market was light as investors remained cautious over the global economic health.

Speculation that Malaysia's exports in February would be bearish, was also among the contributing factors, they said.The data is due for release on April 3.

However, on a positive note, dealers expect the ringgit to strengthen at 3.60 against the US dollar as investors start to look at assets and investments in emerging markets.

"Asian markets are likely to regain investor confidence once the stimulus packages start rolling and begin impacting the continent's economy. This will also benefit Malaysia and the ringgit as well," they said.

Compared to other major currencies, the ringgit was mostly higher.

It was stronger against the Singapore dollar at 2.3933/3989 from 2.3948/3989 yesterday and also strengthened against the Japanese yen at 3.6852/6906 from 3.7077/7130 previously.

Against the euro, the ringgit appreciated to 4.8103/8180 from yesterday's 4.8369/8420, but was lower against the British pound at 5.2430/2524 from 5.1985/1050 previously.