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 opens firmer on crude price rally

  • Jul 12, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened firmer against the US dollar, backed by rising crude oil prices amid the higher number of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia.

At 9am, the local note rose slightly by 45 basis points (bps) to open at 4.1850/1890 against the greenback from 4.1895/1940 at last Friday’s close.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the ringgit was expected to get some support from the strength in Brent crude oil price due to the drop in crude stockpiles, which reinforced views that oil demand was picking up with the start of the United States driving season.

At the time of writing, oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.13 per cent to US$75.65 per barrel.

“Henceforth, this could cushion the pressure coming from uncertainties related to the pandemic with Asia facing its latest wave of infections,” he told Bernama.

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in Malaysia remained above the 9,000 mark with 9,105 infections reported on Sunday, bringing the cumulative number of cases to 836,296.

At the opening bell, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local note slipped versus the British pound to 5.8176/8231 from 5.7798/7860 at Friday’s close, depreciated vis-a-vis Singapore dollar to 3.0970/1002 from 3.0953/0991, and fell against the euro to 4.9697/9744 from 4.9667/9720.

However, it appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.8004/8040 from 3.8076/8120 previously. – Bernama