KUALA LUMPUR (June 7): The ringgit reversed its gains against the US dollar to open lower on Tuesday (June 7) as the latter firmed up as bets for further rate interest rate hikes continued.
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At 9.02am, the local currency had eased to 4.3950/3975 versus the US dollar from last Friday’s close at 4.3870/3910.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the latest print for non-farm payrolls suggested that the state of the US economy remained positive with total jobs created standing at 390,000 in May, exceeding consensus estimates of 328,000, hence the US dollar was gaining against all major currencies such as the euro, pound and yen.
“As such, the dollar-ringgit [pair] should remain at around 4.39 today (Tuesday), while the focus this week is on the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday, as well as the US Consumer Producer Index for May with consensus estimates lingering around 8.2% (April: 8.3%),” he told Bernama.
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Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1889/1910 from last Friday’s 3.1947/1981, and traded better versus the British pound at 5.5008/5039 compared with 5.5171/5221 previously.
It also improved versus the euro to 4.6956/6983 from 4.7143/7186 last Friday, and increased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.3230/3251 from 3.3728/3759 previously.-BERNAMA