RINGGIT OPENS HIGHER AGAINST GREENBACK ON LOWER US DOLLAR INDEX

By Danni Haizal Danial Donald

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) -- The ringgit opened stronger against the US dollar on Friday, due to a weaker US Dollar Index (DXY) amid mixed economic data, said an analyst.

At 8 am, the local note rose to 4.2575/2860 against the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.2705/2765.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the DXY remained below the 100-point level while the economic data was fairly mixed.  

“The initial jobless claims (IJC) were lower than expected last week at 227,000 against a consensus estimate of 230,000.

“This suggests that the labour market is still resilient, although the number of unemployed who continue to receive such unemployment benefits rose to 1.90 million from the previous level of 1.87 million,” he told Bernama.

At the same time, Mohd Afzanizam said the US Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) Index for the manufacturing industries saw a notable increase to 52.3 points in May from 50.2 points in April, with a significant rise in new orders being the main driver. 

“Otherwise, sub-index components such as employment have been lacklustre while business inventories have been ramped up in fear of higher tariffs going forward, along with higher average prices charged to the customers,” he said.

Furthermore, he added that the US House of Representatives has approved the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will extend the 2017 tax cuts, new deductions on tips, and raise the cap on state and local taxes, among others.

“Budget deficits are likely to balloon from the current 6.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). This will impact the government debt burden, which is already 100 per cent of GDP. 

“On that note, the US dollar is likely to remain weak, which effectively means that emerging market currencies, including the ringgit, are poised to appreciate against the greenback,” he added.

At the opening, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major and regional currencies.

It appreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.9591/9791 from Thursday’s 2.9768/9812, strengthened versus the British pound to 5.7131/7514 from 5.7212/7292 and edged higher vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8029/8350 from 4.8218/8286.

Against regional peers, it rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.2943/3166 from 3.3061/3110 and gained against the Thai baht to 12.9498/13.0484 from 13.0000/0254.

The local note also appreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 260.7/262.6 from 261.5/262.0, and was higher vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 7.65/7.71 from 7.68/7.69.

-- BERNAMA