KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — The ringgit closed marginally higher against the US dollar today despite Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) increasing by 3.4 per cent to 127.4 last month from 123.2 a year earlier, said an analyst.
At 6pm, the local currency edged up to 4.4515/4545 versus the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.4575/4590.
Earlier, the Department of Statistics Malaysia announced that food inflation jumped by 6.1 per cent, remaining the main contributor to the rise in inflation in June 2022.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said usually inflation would provide an economic drag and the ringgit was likely to soften a little.
“The economy is now hit by higher food price inflation that leaves less disposable income for most people to spend on big-ticket items. Higher inflation will be a short-term drag on the economy,” he told Bernama.
However, the ringgit traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The local currency depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.2011/2038 from 3.1960/1976 on Thursday and went down versus the Japanese yen to 3.2389/2413 from 3.2128/2142 previously.
However, it rose vis-à-vis the British pound to 5.3187/3222 from 5.3236/3254 yesterday and strengthened against the euro to 4.5201/5231 from 4.5386/5402.
— Bernama
