RINGGIT OPENS MARGINALLY HIGHER AGAINST US DOLLAR

By Rosemarie Khoo

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- The ringgit traded marginally higher at today’s opening today against the US dollar despite the strengthening of the US Dollar Index (DXY), said an analyst.

At 8 am, the local note was traded at 4.4810/4885 against the US dollar compared with Thursday’s close of 4.4840/4870.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said DXY remained at the forefront with the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) unlikely to cut interest rates aggressively while economic data supported the view that the US economy is still robust.

“The odds for interest rate cut in December are greatly reduced from 80 per cent to below 60 per cent. That’s how fickle-minded the market is now at the current juncture.

“On that note, the ringgit will continue to have a downside bias along with other major and emerging country currencies,” he told Bernama. 

Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

It depreciated versus the British pound to 5.6761/6856 from 5.6750/6787 at Thursday’s close and slid vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7180/7259 from 4.7172/7203 but gained against the Japanese yen to 2.8638/8688 from 2.8720/8741 yesterday.

The ringgit traded traded mixed against ASEAN currencies.

It slightly rose vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 7.62/7.64 from 7.63/7.63 and was higher against the Indonesian rupiah to 282.4/283.0 from 282.6/282.9 from Thursday’s close.

The local note eased against the Thai baht to 12.8003/8342 from 12.7706/7838 at yesterday’s close and remained almost flat versus the Singapore dollar at 3.3284/3344 from 3.3284/3309 previously.

-- BERNAMA