KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit ended higher against the US dollar today as the local note corrected from its oversold position.
At 6 pm, the ringgit climbed 145 percentage-in-points to 4.4535/4600 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.4680/4725.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the local note appreciated intermittently after being in an oversold position for quite some time.
"The ringgit had been in an oversold position against the greenback so traders might be tempted to establish a position (buy) in ringgit,” he told Bernama.
He said the ringgit performed favourably against the greenback despite the US inflation report coming in higher than expected while the Federal Reserve reiterated its stance to keep the rate steady as there is no urgency to reduce it in the immediate term.
The US headline inflation and core consumer price index in January rose 3.0 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively, higher against consensus estimates of 2.9 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively.
Mohd Afzanizam said US President Donald Trump’s move to initiate negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war in Ukraine may have provided a boost to market sentiment as energy prices should be well contained, thus alleviating concern on rising inflation going forward.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
It strengthened versus the Japanese yen to 2.8917/8961 from 2.9106/9137 at the close on Wednesday but fell against the euro to 4.6419/6487 from 4.6351/6398 and slipped vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.5615/5696 from 5.5613/5669 previously.
The local note was mostly higher against ASEAN currencies.
The ringgit rose versus the Indonesian rupiah to 272.1/272.7 from 272.7/273.2 at Wednesday’s close, rose against the Philippine peso to 7.67/7.68 from 7.68/7.69 and climbed vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.2999/3049 from 3.3028/3064 previously.
However, it eased against the Thai baht to 13.1644/1906 from 13.0953/1151 yesterday. - Bernama
