By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani
KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian ringgit regained some strength to open higher against the US dollar as the greenback’s demand weakened amid expectations of an aggressive monetary policy stance by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in the third week this month.
At 9.02 am, the local currency increased to 4.3805/3840 versus the US dollar from Wednesday’s close of 4.3880/3910.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said investors are also focusing on the release of the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data today, hence, giving the ringgit a favourable trading backdrop.
“Besides, risk sentiment is seen to be steadier, supported also by firmer oil prices. However, the ringgit may move range-bound ahead of the NFP release,” Innes told Bernama.
At the time of writing, the benchmark Brent crude oil price up 0.07 per cent to US$117.70 per barrel.
On the local front, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz on Thursday said the expansion of the Malaysian economy by 3.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 5.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2022 will continue to help strengthen the ringgit.
He said this was also reflected in the latest analysis by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that projected Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.75 per cent for 2022, driven by pent-up domestic demand and continued strong external demand.
The Ministry of Finance is confident of the country’s strong economic growth projection of between 5.3 and 6.3 per cent in 2022, thus contributing to the stability of the ringgit.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1960/1991 from Thursday’s close of 3.1901/1928 but increased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.3745/3775 from 3.3803/3829.
The ringgit traded lower versus the British pound at 5.5085/5129 compared with 5.5034/5072 on Wednesday and dropped versus the euro to 4.7125/7163 from 4.6895/6927 previously.
— NNN-BERNAMA