KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — The ringgit continued its uptrend to end higher against the US dollar for the seventh consecutive day, in tandem with the rise in the price of Brent Crude, analysts said.
At 6pm, the ringgit was traded at 4.1750/1775 against the greenback, compared with Wednesday’s 4.1845/1860.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid told Bernama that the higher crude oil price would create more fiscal space for the government to support economic growth this year.
“All this would be constructive for the ringgit which could motivate a higher overnight policy rate this year,” he said.
At 6.12pm, the global benchmark Brent crude oil climbed 0.34 per cent to US$84.96 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the local currency was traded easier against a basket of other major currencies.
The ringgit eased against the Japanese yen to 3.6450/6472 from 3.6280/6296 yesterday, depreciated against the euro to 4.7883/7912 from 4.7565/7582 on Wednesday, weakened versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1034/1055 from 3.0976/0989 and slipped against the British pound to 5.7348/7382 from 5.7043/7064 previously.
— Bernama
