Selangor Journal

Ringgit ends firmer against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — The ringgit rebounded to close higher against the US dollar today, lifted by mild buying support for the local note, said an economist.

At 6pm, the local note stood at 4.1495/1530 against the greenback from 4.1545/1560 recorded at Tuesday’s closing.

Speaking to Bernama, Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit’s movement was positive today, albeit within a tight range.

In general, the ringgit has made a good progress since mid-August when it touched RM4.24, he said.

“In that sense, there could be some profit-taking along the way, given the sharp appreciation of the local note in the past one month.

“We can also see that Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) foreign exchange reserve has gone up to US$116.3 billion as of Aug 30, 2021 from US$111.3 billion on Aug 13,” he said.

Mohd Afzanizam said that the latest statistic also showed that foreign funds were net buyers of equities and bonds, with net purchases at RM1.1 billion and RM6.6 billion, respectively, in August.

As such, foreign funds have been quite constructive on Malaysian financial assets and inadvertently, the ringgit, he said.

In the immediate term, the ringgit seems to be favourable as the United States Federal Reserve might not be in a hurry to taper down its asset purchases programme, while BNM is likely to keep the overnight policy rate (OPR) unchanged in its fifth monetary policy meeting tomorrow.

At the closing bell, the local note was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.

The local note increased versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0828/0857 from 3.0902/0918 on Tuesday and rose vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9026/9068 from 4.9314/9332 previously.

It also appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.7632/7672 from 3.7785/7799 yesterday and improved against the British pound at 5.7082/7129 from 5.7403/7423 previously.

— Bernama

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