By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian ringgit retained its upward momentum to open higher against the US dollar Friday as more investors shifted their interest towards emerging currencies, coupled with higher global oil prices, said an analyst.
At 9 am, the local note strengthened to 4.2260/2310 against the greenback from Thursday’s closing of 4.2450/2465.
At the time of writing, Brent crude gained 0.26 per cent to US$87.70 per barrel.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the local note would likely have better days ahead on the expected increase in Chinese tourists and to fuel Malaysia’s tourism and services sector with more capital inflows as investors continue to flock into Asian markets.
“Yesterday’s uptick in holiday travel and box office data in China was very positive, and while we might see a bit more of a positive move on that impulse, I think the market will really need to see improved consumption data in China before they take a leap of faith below the 4.20 level,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US Core Durable Goods Orders data came in higher than expected, which tends to be positive for the greenback, while the US Gross Domestic Product also came in higher than expected, at 2.9 per cent versus the projected of 2.6 per cent.
“This is signaling that the US economy is doing better than previously predicted and this also tends to be bullish for the US dollar,” he said, adding that the numbers point to a possible appreciation of the currency over the next few days.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.2235/2278 from 3.2345/2359 at Thursday’s close and climbed vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.2466/2528 from 5.2583/2601 previously.
It also improved versus the euro to 4.6038/6093 from 4.6254/6270 and appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.2595/2639 from 3.2671/2685.
— NNN-BERNAMA
