KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar today on a weakening of the greenback, amid concerns of a global trade war, dealers said.
At 9 am, the local note was quoted at 3.8920/8960 versus the US dollar from last Friday's 3.9020/9050.
OANDA Head of Trading Asia-Pacific, Stephen Innes said US President's Donald Trump decision to impose heavy import tariffs on steel and aluminium, would however, have a muted regional effect as China is not a significant supplier to the US market.
“Asia's currency eased off the initial knee-jerk tariff reaction with the ringgit outperforming regional pairs on the back of foreign capital inflows.
“There is no playbook on how trade tariffs will play out in trying to understand the politics of trade wars, but the ringgit should hold up well, relative to its regional peers,” he added.
Locally, he said, attention would be focused on the Bank Negara Malaysia Monetary Policy Meeting on on March 7.
“While the new domestic inflation metrics give little cause for the bank to raise interest rates, traders will continue to focus on forwarding guidance.
“But at this stage, we are not expecting any upgrade on the central bank's monetary policy,” he added.
The local note, however, traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 2.9514/9555 from last Friday's 2.9532/9565 and appreciated against the British pound to 5.3713/3773 from 5.3742/3795. It decreased against the euro to 4.7996/8061 from 4.7901/7946 and fell against the yen to 3.6894/6943 from 3.6888/6934. - Bernama
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