KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 — The ringgit ended slightly higher against the US dollar today due to buying interest in line with the equities market’s positive performance, although the greenback remained firm ahead of the United States’ (US) inflation data later this week, dealers said.
At 6 pm, the local note was up slightly at 4.1825/1850 versus the US dollar from 4.1835/1865 at Tuesday’s close.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US dollar timidly gained some ground against the ringgit before pulling back with low volatility in the market in recent days, largely due to tensions between the US and Russia.
The fundamental analysis suggests that there is a good chance that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at the next meeting in March, which could make the US dollar appreciate in the medium and long term, he told Bernama.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit were mostly hovering around the RM4.18 level against the greenback as Brent crude oil prices corrected slightly at around US$90 per barrel.
“The resumption of nuclear talks between the US and Iran on February 8 had revived hope that the economic sanction could be lifted at some point in the future.
“This may have motivated the correction in the Brent crude prices as oil supplies would increase in the future,” he said.
He added that the focus now would be on the US’ Consumer Price Index which was expected to climb further to 7.3 per cent year-on-year in January based on consensus estimates from 7.0 per cent in December and, as such, the US dollar is likely to be well supported at this juncture.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of other major currencies.
It eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.1148/1169 from Tuesday’s close of 3.1106/1131 and slipped against the British pound to 5.6765/6799 from 5.6691/6731.
The local unit depreciated versus the euro to 4.7785/7814 from 4.7713/7747 on Tuesday but gained vis-a-vis the Japanese yen at 3.6250/6275 from 3.6258/6284 yesterday.
— Bernama
