A customer counts her ringgit notes outside a money changer at the central business district in Singapore in this August 25, 2015 file photo. Malaysia's ringgit jumped more than 5 percent to a five-week high on October 7, 2015 on stop-loss dollar selling and higher local stocks. The ringgit, the worst performing Asian currency so far this year, surged as much as 5.2 percent to 4.1600 per dollar, its strongest since Sept 1. REUTERS/Edgar Su/Files

Malaysia: Ringgit rises on Covid vaccination news

  • May 25, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit rebounded from yesterday’s close to open higher against the US dollar today, on renewed buying support due to positive development of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, dealers said.

At 9.06am, the local note was higher at 4.1400/1440 against the greenback from Monday’s close of 4.1440/1480.

A dealer said that the local market reacted positively as the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) said that Malaysia has more than enough vaccines for its people.

In a statement on Monday, CITF said Malaysia has spent RM3.5 billion to procure COVID-19 vaccines for 120 per cent of its population or 38.5 million people.

It said as most of the vaccines procured were two-dose vaccines, the total number of doses Malaysia had procured was 73.5 million doses, and not 32 million.

Meanwhile, the local note, however, traded lower against other major currencies.

The ringgit fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.1186/1219 from Monday’s close of 3.1165/1207 and weakened vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0607/0660 from 5.0602/0660.

The local currency went down against the British pound to 5.8647/8720 from 5.8575/8640 and depreciated against the yen to 3.8065/8113 from 3.8057/8097. – Bernama

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/05/25/ringgit-rises-on-covid-vaccination-news