KUALA LUMPUR (July 14): The ringgit extended Wednesday’s (July 13) gains to open slightly higher against the US dollar on Thursday on continued buying interest, despite a bearish outlook for emerging currencies, including the ringgit, dealers said.
At 9am, the local currency had edged up to 4.4350/4390 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close at 4.4360/4385.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the greenback took on a positive tone, supported by the release of US Consumer Price Index data which came in above expectations at 9.1% versus the forecast of 8.8%.
“This was the largest increase in inflation since November 1981, making room for more severe measures by the US Federal Reserve, which is likely to accelerate its interest rate hikes.
“If the interest rate rises very quickly in the US, this will cause countries to start selling their local currencies to buy more dollars and then buy US government bonds,” he told Bernama on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the local unit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It appreciated against the British pound to 5.2599/2647 from 5.2753/2783 on Wednesday, increased versus the euro to 4.4456/4497 from 4.4524/4549, and strengthened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.2159/2190 from 3.2358/2379.
However, the ringgit was lower against the Singapore dollar at 3.1781/1816 from 3.1559/1582 previously.-BERNAMA