KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — The ringgit ended higher against the greenback on Monday, boosted by the positive sentiment towards the tabling of Budget 2022 this week, as well as the rising oil price, an analyst said.
At 6pm, the local currency rose to 4.1480/1510 versus the greenback from 4.1490/1520 at Friday’s close.
The analyst said the tabling of Budget 2022 on Friday is expected to boost the ringgit to below the 4.15 level against the US dollar this week.
“However, the local note may face some headwinds if the United States’ (US) gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the third quarter of 2021 beats estimates, and if the market continues to hawkishly re-price the Federal Reserve’s tapering ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee’s November meeting,” he said.
Meanwhile, OANDA Asia Pacific senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said despite the rebound in the US dollar, the ringgit continues to find support from the strong commodity and energy prices.
At press time, the benchmark Brent crude oil price rose 0.60 per cent to US$86.04 per barrel.
At the close, the local note was traded higher against a basket of major currencies, except versus the Japanese yen where it slipped to 3.6504/6534 from 3.6436/6466 at the end of last week.
The ringgit improved against the Singapore dollar to 3.0781/0805 from 3.0825/0849 last Friday, strengthened vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.7043/7085 from 5.7269/7310, and gained against the euro to 4.8229/8264 from 4.8307/8342 previously.
— Bernama
