BERNAMA – The Malaysian ringgit continued its uptrend yesterday to end higher against the US dollar, supported by the positive performance of commodity prices, analysts said.
At 6pm yesterday, the ringgit appreciated versus the greenback to 4.4280/4325 from Friday’s closing rate of 4.4310/4345.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the market would, however, remain a bit apprehensive ahead of this week’s release of US Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes and Friday’s US personal consumption expenditures reading, fearing that the data could further stoke inflationary fires and push US yields higher, which would be harmful to the ringgit.
“I cannot conclusively say we are back on the ringgit rally wagon just yet, but any improvement in China data or weaker US economic data could be in favour of the local note,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Firdaos Rosli said Budget 2023, to be re-tabled on February 24 would reveal the new government’s near-term fiscal priorities and impact market sentiment.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies. The ringgit eased against the Japanese yen to 3.2998/3036 from 3.2864/2892 at Friday’s close and fell vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3136/3172 from 3.3062/3093 previously.
It also weakened versus the euro to 4.7291/7339 from 4.7137/7174 at the end of last week and slid against the British pound to 5.3233/3288 from 5.2919/2961.
