KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened firmer against the US dollar this morning on the back of softer United States (US) nonfarm payroll (NFP), which has helped to stablise the local note, said an analyst.
At 9 am, the local unit climbed to 4.6555/6600 versus the greenback compared with 4.6655/6675 at Friday’s close.
The US NFP recorded 209,000 in June 2023, slightly below the expectation of 220,000, and is the lowest level since December 2020.
Furthermore, SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s two-day meeting with top officials in Beijing, China had also helped to lift traders’ sentiment as the US-China tensions are expected to ease.
“However, traders could remain cautious ahead of US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report and China activity data this week which has been running weak,” he told Bernama.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US NFP data gave a mixed signal on Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision in the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on July 25.
“On the surface, the US labour market appears to be tight as wage growth continues to expand at a rate of more than four per cent,” he said.
Following this, Mohd Afzanizam opined that the ringgit could be somewhat positive today due to the continued uncertainties over the rate rise in the US.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It decreased vis-a-vis the euro to 5.1043/1092 from 5.0765/0787 at Friday’s close, slid against the Japanese yen to 3.2668/2702 from 3.2601/2617 and shed against the British pound to 5.9707/9765 from 5.9466/9492 previously.
The local note traded mixed against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit was lower versus the Singapore dollar at 3.4549/4585 from 3.4511/4528 at Friday’s close and declined against the Thai baht to 13.2484/2658 from 13.2471/2588.
It was higher against the Indonesian rupiah at 307.4/307.8 from 308.0/308.3 and rose against the Philippine peso to 8.38/8.40 from 8.39/8.39.
Short-term rates to remain stable
Short-term rates are expected to remain stable today on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity from the financial system.
Liquidity is estimated at RM45.69 billion in the conventional system and RM25.22 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will call for two reverse repo tenders, namely a RM1 billion tender for 31 days and a RM500 million tender for 92 days.
Additionally, BNM will conduct a RM3 billion Bank Negara Interbank Bills Islamic (BNIBI) tender for eight days.
It also announced the availability of reverse repo, sale and buy-back agreements as well as collateralised commodity Murabahah facilities for tenors of one to three months.
At 4 pm, BNM will conduct up to RM47.7 billion conventional overnight tender and RM25.2 billion Murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the midday Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 US 4.6645/4.6690
100 yen 3.2658/3.2691
1 pound 5.9757/5.9815
1 euro 5.1109/5.1158
1 SGD 3.4583/4619
100 baht 13.2597/13.2778
1 mln rupiah 306.4/306.9
100 pesos 8.39/8.40
Malayan Banking Bhd exchange rates for today:
| SELLING TT/OD | BUYING TT | BUYING OD | |
| 1 US Dollar | 4.7320 | 4.5990 | 4.5880 |
| 1 Australian Dollar | 3.1770 | 3.0510 | 3.0130 |
| 1 Brunei Dollar | 3.5070 | 3.4040 | 3.3880 |
| 1 Canadian Dollar | 3.5540 | 3.4590 | 3.4310 |
| 1 Euro | 5.1880 | 5.0190 | 4.9750 |
| 1 New Zealand Dollar | 2.9440 | 2.8340 | 2.8030 |
| 1 Papua N Guinea Kina | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1 Singapore Dollar | 3.5070 | 3.4040 | 3.3880 |
| 1 Sterling Pound | 6.0760 | 5.8870 | 5.8360 |
| 1 Swiss Franc | 5.3030 | 5.1820 | 5.1370 |
| 100 UAE Dirham | 130.2000 | 123.4200 | 123.4900 |
| 100 Bangladesh Taka | 4.4260 | 4.1510 | 3.9590 |
| 100 Chinese Renminbi | 65.6000 | 63.0000 | N/A |
| 100 Danish Krone | 71.3800 | 65.6600 | 65.1700 |
| 100 Hongkong Dollar | 61.0200 | 57.9800 | 57.9400 |
| 100 Indian Rupee | 5.8200 | 5.4600 | 5.2600 |
| 100 Indonesian Rupiah | 0.0323 | 0.0292 | 0.0243 |
| 100 Japanese Yen | 3.3240 | 3.2170 | 3.1880 |
| 100 New Taiwan Dollar | 16.2000 | N/A | N/A |
| 100 Norwegian Krone | 45.6200 | 41.9600 | 41.3000 |
| 100 Pakistan Rupee | 1.7300 | 1.6200 | 1.4300 |
| 100 Philippine Peso | 8.6300 | 8.1300 | 7.9400 |
| 100 Qatar Riyal | 131.1300 | 124.4800 | 124.5300 |
| 100 Saudi Riyal | 127.3800 | 120.9200 | 120.9600 |
| 100 South Africa Rand | 25.9700 | 23.4500 | 23.0000 |
| 100 Sri Lanka Rupee | 1.5700 | 1.4300 | 1.2400 |
| 100 Swedish Krona | 45.0100 | 40.9800 | 40.4500 |
| 100 Thai Baht | 14.0500 | 12.4600 | 12.0600 |
Gold up
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM278.91 per gramme, up RM1.05 from RM277.86 at 5 pm last Friday. – BERNAMA
