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 rebounds ahead of Bank Negara monetary policy meeting

  • Jan 20, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit rebounded to open higher versus the US dollar today, as the greenback retreated amid risk-on mode in the equity market, an analyst said.

At 9.05 am, the local currency was trading at 4.1855/1880 against the US dollar compared with 4.1925/1950 at Wednesday’s close.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid told Bernama that the 10-year US Treasury yielded lower at 1.83 per cent last night, while major US equities benchmark index fell.

It seems at the moment, the US dollar/ringgit is hovering slightly below its immediate resistant level of RM4.1958.

Mohd Afzanizam said market participants are expected to pay close attention to Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) Monetary Policy Committee meeting deliberation today.

“Most economists expect no change in the present overnight policy rate (OPR) level of 1.75 per cent,” he said.

He said while that could be already in the price, the markets would want to see the committee’s assessment on the prevailing economic condition, in particular the inflation, and how it might affect the monetary policy going forward.

“As such, expect the local note to be in a tight range today,” he added.

At the opening bell, the local note was traded mixed against a basket of other major currencies.

The ringgit ended slightly higher versus the Singapore dollar at 3.1075/1096 from Wednesday’s close 3.1086/1095 and increased vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7510/7538 from 4.7553/7575.

However, the local note was almost flat against the British pound at 5.7019/7053 from 5.7018/7036 and depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.6622/6647 from 3.6600/6625. – Bernama