BERNAMA – The Malaysian ringgit opened marginally higher against the United States (US) dollar yesterday amid cautious trading ahead of the US government’s import tariff imposition on Canada and Mexico as well as China.
At 8am, the ringgit improved to 4.4595/4650 versus the greenback from 4.4600/4650 at Friday’s close.
The 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as well as the 10 per cent tariff on China are scheduled to take effect today.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the headline and core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation rates, which are the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) favourite inflation gauge, trended lower to 2.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively, in January 2025, suggesting that restrictive monetary policy is warranted to keep the risk of higher inflation at bay.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
It strengthened versus the Japanese yen to 2.9564/9605 from 2.9682/9717 at Friday’s close, but slipped against the British pound to 5.6185/6255 from 5.6174/6237 at the end of last week and fell vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6423/6481 from 4.6362/6414 previously.
In contrast, the Malaysian currency was traded mostly higher against ASEAN currencies. It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.3036/3081 from 3.3069/3108 on Friday, rose vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.0242/0498 from 13.0455/0670 and improved versus Indonesian rupiah to 268.6/269.1 from 268.7/269.1.
However, the ringgit was flat against the Philippine peso at 7.69/7.70.
