Ringgit opens higher vs US$, major Asean currencies

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar and major Asean currencies ahead of the release of the United States’ (US) inflation data, supported by soaring oil prices, said an analyst.

At 9 am, the local note rose to 4.6720/6760 against the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.6755/6805.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the ringgit opened stronger on the back of long dollar profit taking as well as high oil prices due to supply disruptions following the catastrophic flood in Libya.

“Traders have been buying lots of US dollars the past two weeks due to the resilient US economy and higher US yields.

“Since the release of the US consumer price index (CPI) is a high risk event for currency markets, traders are reducing long US dollar risk in case the print comes in softer than expected, and the dollar will sell off fairly aggressively,” he told BK.

At the same time, Innes said the China’s economic data are showing signs of stability, which is positive for the Asian foreign exchange market, but all eyes remained trained on the US CPI to be released tonight, which would likely provide the dollars next short term direction.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.

It ticked up against the Japanese yen to 3.1718/1747 from 3.1849/1886 on Tuesday’s close but fell againts British pound to 5.8372/8422 from 5.8299/8361 and depreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0266/0309 from 5.0131/0184 previously.

Concurrently, the local note traded higher against other Asean currencies.

It improved vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.4325/4360 from 3.4338/4378 at Tuesday’s close and was marginally higher versus the Philippines’ peso at 8.24/8.26 from 8.25/8.26 yesterday.

The local note also rose against the Thai baht to 13.0967/1127 from 13.1157/1349 and edged up against the Indonesian rupiah to 304.5/304.9 from 304.7/305.2 previously. – BK