KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — The ringgit climbed 50 basis points (bps) against the US dollar at the opening, fuelled by strong crude oil prices which rose nearly 5.0 per cent overnight due to rising demand.
At 9.01am, the local note was higher at 4.1220/1250 against the greenback from 4.1270/1300 at Wednesday’s close.
Axi chief global markets strategist Stephen Innes said the strong crude prices had lifted the ringgit higher.
“With the United States (US) bond yields remaining near the bottom of the perceived current ranges, and crude oil rallying magnificently overnight after a genuinely bullish International Energy Agency inventory report driving G-10 commodity currencies higher, one could expect the ringgit to hitch a ride on this oil price momentum with (investment) flows into the oil and gas sector looking to improve,” he told Bernama.
International benchmark Brent crude futures rose 4.6 per cent to finish at US$66.58 per barrel on Wednesday, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures was 4.9 per cent higher at US$63.15 per barrel.
However, the ringgit was lower against other major currencies.
It weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0874/0913 from 3.0861/0888 on Wednesday and depreciated against the yen to 3.7865/7900 from 3.7855/7890.
Vis-a-vis the pound, the local currency declined to 5.6847/6892 from 5.6825/6874, while against the euro, it slipped to 4.9406/9459 from 4.9342/9387.
— Bernama
