KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar on Wednesday, as the market resumed its observation on further trade negotiations between the United States (US) and China in London, an analyst said.
At 8 am, the local note rose to 4.2290/2380 versus the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.2360/2420.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US dollar index (DXY) see-sawed between 98.962 and 99.358 last night as traders and investors continued to monitor the US-China trade talks.
"US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick described the discussion as running well, suggesting the two nations could potentially arrive at a midway (point) in their negotiations,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Mohd Afzanizam said the debate on US President Donald Trump’s "Big, Beautiful Bill” is still ongoing among the US Senate, as some Republicans are pushing for the phasing out of the clean-energy tax credit on the grounds of protecting investors and jobs from major disruptions.
He said the US fiscal position would be in the spotlight as fiscal deficits and government debt are expected to climb.
"While market sentiments demonstrated a positive sign, it is still an early day. On that note, we expect the ringgit-dollar exchange to remain range-bound between 4.23 and 4.24 today,” he said
At the opening, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.9200/9264 from Tuesday’s close of 2.9270/9314, and strengthened versus the British pound to 5.7121/7243 from 5.7152/7233, but marginally lower vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8367/8470 from 4.8354/8422 yesterday.
The local currency traded higher against its ASEAN peers.
It gained versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2885/2957 from 3.2932/2981 at Tuesday’s close and improved against the Thai baht to 12.9664/13.0040 from 12.9712/9955.
The ringgit was slightly higher vis-a-vis the Philippine peso at 7.57/7.59 from 7.58/7.60 yesterday and inched up against the Indonesian rupiah to 259.8/260.5 from 260.2/260.7 previously. - Bernama
