KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — The ringgit closed higher against the US dollar on Friday amid firmer Brent crude oil price, considering that the price has a causality effect towards the movement of the local note, an analyst said.
At 6 pm, the local note strengthened to 4.1445/1475 versus the greenback from yesterday's close of 4.1570/1600.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim reminded that earlier this week, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies had revised the 2022 oil demand growth forecast to 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd), up from a previous 3.28 million bpd which would potentially build the case for higher output in future.
“The organisation expects demand to grow by 5.95 million bpd this year after a record drop of about nine million bpd in 2020 due the Covid-19 pandemic,” he told Bernama.
At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude oil gained by 0.51 per cent to US$78.40 per barrel.
Besides that, he also said the ringgit improved due to the drop in daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia today.
The number of new Covid-19 cases recorded in Malaysia dropped to 19,378 Friday, compared to 20,988 yesterday.
Meanwhile, the local note was also traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It climbed against the Singapore dollar to 3.0876/0903 from 3.0930/0955 at Thursday's close, appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.7705/7735 from 3.7801/7832 and increased vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9195/9231 from yesterday’s close of 4.9265/9300.
However, the ringgit fell slightly against the British pound to 5.7352/7393 from 5.7333/7375 previously.
— Bernama
