ASEAN to beat speculators

ASEAN to beat speculators

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday said Kuala Lumpur was discussing with other Southeast Asian economies ways to beat rogue currency speculators.

"We are talking with a lot of people now," he said when asked if the central banks in the region would get together to fight the decline in the value of several regional currencies.

Mahathir said the central banks in the region, including Malaysia's Bank Negara, have been in "some communication."

Speculative funds dragged the ringgit to a 24-year-low of 2.8250 to the greenback and forced the usually robust Singapore unit to a 38-month low of 1. 5245 against the dollar on Friday.

The rupiah plunged to another record low of 2,937.50 to the U.S. dollar from its Thursday close of 2,755.

Mahathir also expressed his unhappiness with the weak level of the local ringgit.