KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened on a strong note against the US dollar as well as several major Asian and non-Asian currencies today, while the greenback weakened after the United States (US) Federal Reserve (Fed) raised its key interest rates to a 22-year high.
At 9 am, the local note rose to 4.5240/5290 against the greenback compared with 4.5470/5505 at Wednesday’s close.
According to a dealer, the Fed’s move to raise the Fed Fund Rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.50 per cent was expected as it continued to battle persistent inflation in the US economy.
According to reports, the US Dollar Index (DXY) eased by 0.32 per cent to 101.02 points, while the two-year US Treasury yield slipped by 2.0 bps to close at 4.85 per cent.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said this showed that the US central bank would be data dependant in its determination to bring the US inflation rate down towards the 2.0 per cent target.
“We believe that this should provide support for the USD/MYR. Perhaps today the ringgit would linger around RM4.54 level versus the US dollar,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Afzanizam said the ringgit vis-a-vis US dollar closed at RM4.5487 which is slightly below the support level of RM4.5491 yesterday.
In the meantime, the local unit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the euro to 5.0162/0218 from 5.0353/0392 at Wednesday’s close, appreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.8550/8614 from 5.8715/8761 yesterday and increased versus the Japanese yen to 3.2231/2269 from 3.2402/2429 previously.
At the same time, the local note was traded higher against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit was better versus the Singapore dollar to 3.4154/4194 from 3.4265/4297 at the close on Wednesday and rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 301.1/301.5 from 302.6/303.0.
The local note also strengthened vis-a-vis the Philippines’ peso to 8.29/8.31 from 8.32/8.33 previously and turned higher to 13.2513/2714 against the Thai baht from 13.2747/2904 at yesterday’s close.
Short-terms rates 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 RM38.35 billion in the conventional system and RM24.22 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will conduct a RM1 billion conventional money market tender for seven days, and two Qard tenders, comprising a RM1 billion tender for seven days as well as a RM300 million tender for 14 days.
BNM will also call for a RM1.5 billion reverse repo tender for 32 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 RM38.9 billion conventional overnight tender and RM22.9 billion for Murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the opening Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 USD 4.5455/5485
100 yen 3.2265/2289
1 pound 5.8446/8485
1 euro 5.0105/0138
1 SGD 3.4148/4176
100 baht 13.2878/3036
1 mln rupiah 300.8/301.2
100 pesos 8.28/8.30
Exchange rates issued by Malayan Banking Bhd today
| SELLING TT/OD | BUYING TT | BUYING OD | |
| 1 US Dollar | 4.6130 | 4.4800 | 4.4720 |
| 1 Australian Dollar | 3.0930 | 2.9690 | 2.9470 |
| 1 Brunei Dollar | 3.4650 | 3.3650 | 3.3600 |
| 1 Canadian Dollar | 3.4790 | 3.3860 | 3.3820 |
| 1 Euro | 5.0940 | 4.9310 | 4.8940 |
| 1 New Zealand Dollar | 2.8540 | 2.7490 | 2.7460 |
| 1 Papua N Guinea Kina | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1 Singapore Dollar | 3.4650 | 3.3650 | 3.3600 |
| 1 Sterling Pound | 5.9310 | 5.7470 | 5.7260 |
| 1 Swiss Franc | 5.2770 | 5.1570 | 5.1570 |
| 100 UAE Dirham | 127.1100 | 120.5500 | 120.4100 |
| 100 Bangladesh Taka | 4.3250 | 4.0580 | 3.8600 |
| 100 Chinese Renminbi | 64.6000 | 62.1000 | N/A |
| 100 Danish Krone | 70.0600 | 64.5000 | 64.0800 |
| 100 Hongkong Dollar | 59.8100 | 56.8600 | 56.6400 |
| 100 Indian Rupee | 5.7000 | 5.3500 | 5.1600 |
| 100 Indonesian Rupiah | 0.0316 | 0.0286 | 0.0237 |
| 100 Japanese Yen | 3.2630 | 3.1610 | 3.1990 |
| 100 New Taiwan Dollar | 15.8000 | N/A | N/A |
| 100 Norwegian Krone | 46.4800 | 42.7400 | 42.6200 |
| 100 Pakistan Rupee | 1.6700 | 1.5500 | 1.3400 |
| 100 Philippine Peso | 8.5300 | 8.0400 | 7.8700 |
| 100 Qatar Riyal | 128.0300 | 121.5400 | 121.4500 |
| 100 Saudi Riyal | 124.4100 | 118.1100 | 117.9400 |
| 100 South Africa Rand | 27.1700 | 24.5500 | 23.9100 |
| 100 Sri Lanka Rupee | 1.4400 | 1.3200 | 1.1200 |
| 100 Swedish Krona | 45.1700 | 41.1500 | 41.1000 |
| 100 Thai Baht | 14.0600 | 12.4800 | 12.0100 |
Gold up
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM276.72 per gramme, up 41 sen from RM276.31 at 5 pm last Friday. — BERNAMA
