Selangor Journal

Ringgit claws back to 4.12 level at opening

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — The ringgit clawed back to the 4.12-point level against the US dollar at opening today, a level last seen on March 24, 2021, as the greenback fell to three-week lows on Tuesday.

At 9.01am, the local note rose 60 basis points to 4.1280/1330 against the greenback from 4.1340/1360 at Tuesday’s close.

The ringgit was also supported by the stabilising crude oil prices which saw benchmark Brent crude hovered around the level of US$63.90 per barrel today.

Axi chief global markets strategist Stephen Innes said the US dollar weakened to a three-week low on Tuesday after a well-telegraphed beat in the US inflation data for March 2021 failed to move the Federal Reserve’s policy normalisation dial.

“The ringgit should embellish the combination of lower US bond yields and more stable oil prices, as crude oil is starting to find some comfort at the upper end of this week’s range,” he told Bernama.

Data released by the US Labour Department late Tuesday showed that March 2021’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.6 per cent from the previous month and 2.6 per cent from a year ago.

At the opening bell, the ringgit was mostly lower against other major currencies.

It weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0831/0878 from 3.0798/0824 on Tuesday, slipped against the euro to 4.9338/9414 from 4.9170/9198 and depreciated against the yen to 3.7931/7984 from 3.7802/7834.

Vis-a-vis the pound, the local currency advanced to 5.6756/6841 from 5.6888/6932 yesterday.

— Bernama

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