People look at the exchange rate at a moneychanger displaying a poster of U.S. dollar bill, Chinese Yuan and Malaysia Ringgit in Singapore August 24, 2015. The Malaysian ringgit hit a fresh pre-peg 17-year low on Monday as sustained worries about China's economy dented global risk appetite with European and Wall Street stocks suffering their largest one-day drop in nearly four years. The ringgit lost 0.9 percent to 4.2200 per dollar, its weakest since Aug. 31, 1998. The ringgit was pegged at at 3.8000 to the dollar in September 1998 and maintained there until 2005. - Reuters
The asset manager's biggest exposure is to notes due next month, of which its funds own about 64 percent. The fund data compiled by Bloomberg is based on numbers for periods ended either June 30 or July 31, depending on each fund's reporting timetable.
Costs Surge
The Templeton Global Bond Fund, managed by Hasenstab, has had an average annual return of 7.3 percent over the ten years ended July 31, the firm said. It has made a 6.2 percent loss so far in 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The yield on Malaysia's five-year government bond rose to a more than six-year high of 4.05 percent on Aug. 17 and ended last week at 4.03 percent. The cost of protecting the country's debt against nonpayment rose to 189 basis points on Friday, the highest since October 2011.
The ringgit has slumped 16 percent this year against the U.S. dollar as of Friday, the worst performing Asian currency after Kazakhstan's and Myanmar’s.
“We believe the current movement in the exchange rate has overshot fundamental value,” Hasenstab said. - Bloomberg
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