By Nurul Jannah Kamaruddin
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian ringgit reversed its downward trend to open on a positive note on Monday as the US dollar moved flat after the latest United States (US) hiring data repudiated concerns of a recession.
At 9.01 am, the ringgit rose to 4.6480/6545 versus the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.6525/6580.
The latest economic data from the US were mixed, suggesting that the world’s largest economy remained resilient despite pockets of weakness.
A total of 216,000 new jobs were created in December, surpassing the forecast of 170,000.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the focus would be on the US inflation data this week.
“Inflation is expected to remain steady at around 3.2 per cent in December, while core consumer price index (CPI) is envisaged to go lower to 3.8 per cent from 4.0 per cent previously,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It slipped vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9132/9215 from 5.8891/8961 last Friday, eased versus the euro to 5.0886/0957 from 5.0763/0823 last week and depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.2144/2191 from 3.2038/2078 previously.
At the same time, the ringgit was traded mostly mixed against Asean currencies.
It was slightly lower against the Singapore dollar at 3.4968/5020 from 3.4944/4988 at Friday’s close and slid vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.4107/4364 from 13.4001/4236 previously.
The ringgit was flat versus the Philippines’ peso at 8.37/8.39 from 8.37/8.38 and was slightly higher against the Indonesian rupiah to 299.5/300.1 from 299.8/300.3 last week.
— NNN-BERNAMA