Ringgit opens marginally higher vs US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened marginally higher today on subdued demand for the US dollar as the United States (US) Treasury yield depreciated.

At 9 am, the ringgit improved to 4.7040/7090 against the greenback from last Friday’s close of 4.7065/7105.

The markets were closed for the Deepavali replacement holiday on Monday.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the 10-year US Treasury yield eased by 1.0 basis point to 4.64 per cent as hopes for moderate inflation print are building up.

For today, he said the main focus would be on the US consumer price index (CPI) print which is expected to moderate to 3.3 per cent in October after remaining at 3.7 per cent for two consecutive months.

“The main issue here is when the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is going to ease their restrictive stance as inflation is seen to be progressively lower.

“Such uncertainty will keep the pace of ringgit appreciation uneven after the weaker US job markets in the first week of November. As such, we expect the MYR/USD to remain in a narrow range today, possibly around RM4.70,” said Mohd Afzanizam to BK.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower versus a basket of major currencies.

It rose against the Japanese yen to 3.1002/1037 from 3.1072/1101 at Friday’s close but eased versus the euro to 5.0328/0382 from 5.0232/0275 last week, and fell against the British pound to 5.7732/7794 from 5.7480/7529 previously.

The ringgit, however, turned mostly firmer against other Asian currencies.

It increased against the Philippines’ peso to 8.40/8.41 from 8.41/8.42 last Friday, ticked up vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 299.5/300.0 from 299.8/300.2 and inched up against the Thai baht to 13.0609/0824 from 13.1108/1267 previously.

However, it depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.4604/4643 from 3.4599/4631 at the close last Friday. – BK