RINGGIT ENDS FIRMER AGAINST US DOLLAR DESPITE STRONG US JOBS DATA

By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- The ringgit ended higher against the US dollar today, tracking gains by several regional currencies despite the stronger-than-expected United States nonfarm payrolls report for September.

At 6 pm, the ringgit rose to 4.1460/1495 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.1565/1645.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit’s appreciation was in line with currencies such as the euro, British pound, Singapore dollar, Thai baht, and Indonesian rupiah.

“The latest US nonfarm payrolls report showed 119,000 jobs were created in September, exceeding forecasts.

“Perhaps the data was rather dated and therefore, the Federal Open Market Committee members should rely on November performance,” he told Bernama.

At the close, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It eased versus the yen to 2.6453/6479 from 2.6446/6498 at Thursday’s close, but strengthened against the euro to 4.7779/7819 from 4.7916/8008 yesterday and went up vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.4143/4188 from 5.4367/4472 previously.

The ringgit also performed mostly better against ASEAN currencies.

It gained versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1695/1724 from 3.1809/1873 on Thursday, edged up against the Thai baht to 12.7601/7759 from 12.8093/8395 at yesterday’s close, and appreciated vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 248.0/248.3 from 248.3/248.9 previously.

However, it was flat against the Philippine peso at 7.04/7.05.

-- BERNAMA