KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — The ringgit ended flat against the US dollar today, moving in a tight range supported by positive domestic economic data as the greenback remained firm ahead of the United States (US) inflation data this week.
The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) is expected to be sustained at more than 7.0 per cent for January and this was anticipated to cement the path to an interest rate hike in March, hence is supportive of the US dollar, dealers said.
At 6 pm, the local note was flat at 4.1835/1865 versus the US dollar from 4.1835/1850 at Monday’s close.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said that with Malaysia’s stream of economic data coming in quite decent, the rising number of Covid-19 cases may have caused the market to take stock on what really happened.
“Markets are wary whether the rise in the new cases may lead to restrictive measures on human mobility. So far, the government has assured that there will not be any lockdown,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Afzanizam also noted that Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) in the fourth quarter of 2021 came in at 6.9 per cent year-on-year after a 1.1 per cent contraction in the preceding quarter while the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) had been above 50 points in the same period.
“As such, we are pencilling in 3.1 per cent gross domestic product growth for the final quarter of 2021 after a 4.5 per cent decline in the previous quarter,” he added.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of other major currencies.
It eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.1106/1131 from Monday’s close of 3.1102/1115 and slipped against the British pound to 5.6691/6731 from 5.6536/6556.
The local unit rose vis-a-vis the Japanese yen at 3.6258/6284 from 3.6369/6385 on Monday and appreciated versus the euro to 4.7713/7747 from 4.7780/7797 yesterday.
— Bernama
