KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — The ringgit opened marginally higher against the US dollar today despite improvement in the United States labour market data with the four-week moving average Initial Jobless Claims declining to 272,750 last week from the previous week of 278,000, said an analyst.
At 9am, the local note rose slightly to 4.1790/1820 versus the greenback from 4.1800/1825 at yesterday’s close.
Additionally, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said manufacturers sentiment based on the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing survey increased significantly to 39.0 points in November from 23.8 points in the preceding month, much higher compared to consensus estimates of 24.0 points.
“Perhaps there could be profit-taking activities in the US dollar and by extension, the ringgit could be supported,” he told Bernama.
Hence, he said the ringgit may not breach its resistant level of RM4.1862 in the near term considering the better risk appetite based on the rise in equity prices, and a slight decline the 10-year US Treasury Yield to 1.59 per cent.
“The ringgit would continue to exhibit a tight range trade of between RM4.1750 and RM4.1850 today,” he said.
Meanwhile, the local note was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The ringgit climbed versus the British pound to 5.6383/6424 from 5.6401/6434 at yesterday’s close and increased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.6552/6582 from 3.6609/6631.
However, the local note dipped against the euro to 4.7494/7528 from 4.7364/7392 and weakened versus the Singapore dollar at 3.0796/0820 from 3.0781/0801 yesterday.
— Bernama
