KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — The ringgit pared earlier losses to end higher against the US dollar today despite the broader strength of the greenback, supported by better performance on the local equities market.
The ringgit was also well supported at the current level, given the strong Brent crude oil price which is currently around US$90 per barrel following the Russia-Ukraine tension, dealers said
At 6pm, the local note stood at 4.1880/1915 against the greenback from Thursday’s close at 4.1935/1980.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the broad-based US dollar strength remained supportive although the US Federal Reserve did not raise the interest rate as it did make it clear that inflation is well above target and that it may raise interest rates at any time from the next meeting to contain inflation.
“Malaysia, in the meantime, is dealing very well with the new variant of Covid-19, as the average number of deaths is at the lowest levels since April 2021 and this is seen positively by the market.
“The trade balance data released today had also given the ringgit more strength in the short term,” he told Bernama.
Malaysia’s external trade registered another historic performance in 2021, surpassing RM2 trillion (US$477.2 billion) for the first time, as well as recording the fastest growth since 1994.
Meanwhile, the local note was also traded higher against a basket of other major currencies.
The ringgit appreciated versus the euro to 4.6621/6660 from 4.6946/6997 on Thursday, and advanced against the British pound to 5.6031/6078 against 5.6306/6367 yesterday.
The domestic unit also strengthened against the Japanese yen to 3.6222/6252 from 3.6462/6501 yesterday and rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0860/0890 from 3.1040/1076 previously.
— Bernama
