Ringgit opens flat against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened flat against the US dollar today despite the higher US dollar index (DXY).

At 8 am, the local note traded at 4.4450/4750 versus the US dollar compared with Wednesday’s close of 4.4450/4495.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the DXY moved higher to 106.58 points following the release of the United States (US) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which came in within expectation.

At the same time, he noted that the two-year US Treasury yields dropped by six basis points to 4.28 per cent as the anticipation for interest rate cuts during the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting in December has increased.

“Still, the DXY has risen, reflecting traders’ and investors’ preference for the greenback over other currencies. As such, the ringgit could stay weak in the near term,” he told Bernama.

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

It appreciated versus the British pound to 5.6610/6864 from 5.6678/6736 at Wednesday’s close, strengthened against the Japanese yen to 2.8642/8773 from 2.8692/8723 yesterday and rose vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7058/7269 from 4.7241/7289 previously.

The ringgit also traded mixed compared with ASEAN currencies.

It rose against the Thai baht to 12.7424/8073 from 12.8235/8416 at yesterday’s close and gained versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3170/3321 from 3.3244/3280.

However, the local unit had eased vis-a-vis the Philippines’ peso to 7.58/7.62 from 7.57/7.58 yesterday and slid against the Indonesian rupiah to 282.2/283.6 from 281.5/282.0 previously.