KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened marginally better against the US dollar today, with the US dollar Index remaining depressed after reversing from an 11-week high.
The market sentiment turned cautious ahead of the United States (US) economic data releases this week for traders to gauge the market direction further, said an analyst.
At 9 am, the local note stood at 4.6530/6555 against the greenback from 4.6535/6565 at Monday’s close.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US dollar has been rather flat for now as markets await upcoming data on the employment market in the US later this week.
The nonfarm payroll (NFP) will be announced on Friday with consensus estimates pegging the number to slow to 170,000 in August from 187,000 in the preceding month while the jobless rate is likely to remain at 3.5 per cent, he noted.
Meanwhile, Mohd Afzanizam shared that the auction for 2-year and 5-year US Treasury bonds drew the highest yield since 2008, suggesting the bond market has anticipated that the interest rate hike has yet to settle down.
“On that note, the ringgit is expected to stay weak against the US dollar in the near term as the market remains highly uncertain…whether the Federal Reserve (Fed) will change its stance amid the ongoing tightness in the labour market,” he said.
Additionally, he noted the inflation rate is also quite sticky with the Fed’s favourite inflation gauge, the core personal consumption expenditure, to be announced on Thursday, is expected to record 4.2 per cent in July against 4.1 per cent in June based on consensus estimates.
“We expect the ringgit against the US dollar to stay in the range of 4.64 to 4.66 in the near term,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit also opened lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note decreased versus the euro to 5.0364/0391 from 5.0290/0323 at Monday’s close, slipped against the British pound to 5.8693/8724 from 5.8522/8560, and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.1772/1793 from 3.1752/1774 yesterday.
At the same time, the ringgit traded mostly lower against other Asean currencies.
It eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.4339/4360 from 3.4282/4307 at Monday’s close, and was flat against the Indonesian rupiah at 304.2/304.5 from 304.2/304.6 previously.
However, the local currency depreciated vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.1940/2063 from 13.1936/2088 on Monday and was marginally lower against the Philippine peso at 8.20/8.20 from 8.19/8.20.
Short-terms rates remain stable
Short-term rates are expected to remain stable today on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity from the financial system.
Liquidity is estimated at RM47.53 billion in the conventional system and RM20.47 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will conduct a RM1 billion conventional money market tender for seven days and a RM1.3 billion Qard tender for seven days.
It will also conduct two reverse repo tenders, comprising a RM1.5 billion tender for 31 days and a RM500 million tender for 92 days, as well as RM3 billion Bank Negara Interbank Bills Islamic (BNIBI) for 31 days.
BNM also announced the availability of reverse repo, sale and buy-back agreements, as well as Collateralised Commodity Murabahah facilities for tenors of one to three months.
At 4 pm, it will conduct up to RM48.5 billion conventional overnight tender and RM19.2 billion for Murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the opening Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 USD 4.6530/6555
100 yen 3.1772/1793
1 pound 5.8693/8724
1 euro 5.0364/0391
1 SGD 3.4339/4360
100 baht 13.1940/2063
1 mln rupiah 304.2/304.5
100 pesos 8.20/8.20
Exchange rates issued By Malayan Banking Bhd
| SELLING TT/OD | BUYING TT | BUYING OD | |
| 1 US Dollar | 4.7180 | 4.5840 | 4.5730 |
| 1 Australian Dollar | 3.0500 | 2.9290 | 2.9020 |
| 1 Brunei Dollar | 3.4820 | 3.3810 | 3.3760 |
| 1 Canadian Dollar | 3.4670 | 3.3740 | 3.3540 |
| 1 Euro | 5.1170 | 4.9530 | 4.9280 |
| 1 New Zealand Dollar | 2.7990 | 2.6960 | 2.6750 |
| 1 Papua N Guinea Kina | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1 Singapore Dollar | 3.4820 | 3.3810 | 3.3760 |
| 1 Sterling Pound | 5.9610 | 5.7740 | 5.7510 |
| 1 Swiss Franc | 5.3280 | 5.2070 | 5.1940 |
| 100 UAE Dirham | 130.0300 | 123.3100 | 122.7500 |
| 100 Bangladesh Taka | 4.4030 | 4.1160 | 3.9040 |
| 100 Chinese Renminbi | 65.1900 | 62.4500 | N/A |
| 100 Danish Krone | 70.3900 | 64.7900 | 64.2400 |
| 100 Hongkong Dollar | 60.8000 | 57.7900 | 57.4400 |
| 100 Indian Rupee | 5.8100 | 5.4500 | 5.2300 |
| 100 Indonesian Rupiah | 0.0319 | 0.0289 | 0.0239 |
| 100 Japanese Yen | 3.2290 | 3.1270 | 3.1140 |
| 100 New Taiwan Dollar | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 100 Norwegian Krone | 45.2300 | 41.6200 | 41.4100 |
| 100 Pakistan Rupee | 1.5900 | 1.4800 | 1.2800 |
| 100 Philippine Peso | 8.4500 | 7.9700 | 7.7500 |
| 100 Qatar Riyal | 130.9600 | 124.3300 | 123.7900 |
| 100 Saudi Riyal | 127.2400 | 120.7900 | 120.3600 |
| 100 South Africa Rand | 26.3200 | 23.7700 | 23.4900 |
| 100 Sri Lanka Rupee | 1.5000 | 1.3800 | 1.1800 |
| 100 Swedish Krona | 44.3900 | 40.4400 | 39.8600 |
| 100 Thai Baht | 14.0000 | 12.4200 | 12.0300 |
Gold up
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM277.75 per gramme, up 63 sen from RM277.12 at 5 pm yesterday. – BERNAMA
