KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today as market players have become more risk averse due to challenging global economic prospects, an analyst said.
At 9 am, the local note eased to 4.6565/6590 against the US dollar from 4.6535/6575 at Monday’s close.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said he believes the ringgit will continue to weaken against the US dollar despite China’s encouraging stimulus measures.
China has stepped up measures to boost the country’s faltering economy, with top banks paving the way for further cuts in lending rates, including relaxing restrictions on home purchases.
“Meanwhile, crude oil prices are rising as Opec+ members are expected to keep supplies tight in order to support prices. In that sense, the direction is quite blurry but one thing for sure is that the hawkish US Federal Reserve (Fed) will keep the US dollar at a higher level,” Mohd Afzanizam told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit opened mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note decreased versus the euro to 5.0258/0285 from 5.0230/0273 at Monday’s close, slipped against the British pound to 5.8812/8843 from 5.8774/8824 but appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.1781/1802 from 3.1786/1818 previously.
At the same time, the ringgit was traded mixed against other Asean currencies.
It was stronger against the Singapore dollar at 3.4358/4381 from 3.4361/4393 at the close on Monday, improved vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.1950/2069 from 13.2089/2259, was flat against the Philippine peso at 8.21/8.23 and slid versus the Indonesian rupiah at 305.4/305.8 from 305.2/305.7 previously.
Short-terms rates remain stable
Short-term rates are expected to remain stable today on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity from the financial system.
Liquidity is estimated at RM38.97 billion in the conventional system and RM20.74 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will conduct a RM1 billion conventional money market tender for seven days and a RM500 million Qard tender for seven days.
It will also call for two reverse repo tenders, comprising a RM1.5 billion tender for 30 days and a RM500 million tender for 91 days.
BNM also announced the availability of reverse repo, sale and buy-back agreements as well as collateralised commodity murabahah facilities for tenors of one to three months.
At 4 pm, it will conduct an up to RM40.0 billion conventional overnight tender and RM20.2 billion for murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the opening Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 USD 4.6565/6590
100 yen 3.1781/1802
1 pound 5.8812/8843
1 euro 5.0258/0285
1 SGD 3.4358/438
100 baht 13.1950/2069
1 mln rupiah 305.4/305.8
100 pesos 8.21/8.23
Gold up
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM280.46 per gramme, down 83 sen from RM281.29 at 5 pm yesterday. – BERNAMA
