KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar on the first trading day of November, nearing its one-year high, with traders anticipating an unchanged overnight policy rate (OPR) at 2.75 per cent.
At 8 am, the ringgit stood at 4.1795/2005 against the greenback, compared with Friday’s close of 4.1860/1930.
The level was last seen on October 2, 2024, when the local note traded at RM4.1760.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit is expected to maintain positive momentum ahead of the Bank Negara Malaysia’s monetary policy committee (MPC) decision on November 6.
“We expect the OPR to remain unchanged as the narrowing of interest rate differentials between the OPR and the developed countries’ policy rate is seen to be the key driver for the ringgit, especially when the BNM is anticipated to maintain their monetary stance in light of steady economic growth as well as benign inflation rate going forward,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Afzanizam further said that a strong commitment by the Federal government to reduce the budget gap to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product next year would be credit-positive, which would incentivise foreign investors to purchase government securities.
“Given that there is a lack of United States data due to the US government shutdown, traders would probably be looking at the domestic factors in order to form their opinion on the currency movement.
“Expect the US dollar to range between 4.18 and 4.20 today,” he added.
At the opening, the ringgit traded higher against major currencies.
The ringgit inched up against the yen to 2.7104/7242 from 2.7162/7210 at Friday’s close, strengthened against the British pound to 5.4889/5165 from 5.5025/5117 and rose versus the euro to 4.8177/8419 from 4.8453/8534 previously.
The local note traded mostly higher against Asean currencies.
It improved against the Singapore dollar to 3.2103/2267 from 3.2185/2241 at Friday’s close, advanced vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.8683/12.9425 from 12.9429/9702, was almost flat against the Indonesian rupiah at 251.3/252.6 from 251.7/252.2 and was slightly better against the Philippine peso at 7.11/7.15 from 7.12/7.14 previously.
