KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened slightly easier against the US dollar following signs of deflation in the United States (US) markets, said an analyst.
At 9.09 am, the local note was traded at 4.5355/5415 against the greenback compared with 4.5255/5280 at the close last Friday.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the ringgit’s improvement last week was a little too optimistic, given China’s negative outlook and the expectation of more rate cuts on the way, which should weaken the Chinese yuan.
“This could see the ringgit pull back a touch this week or at least consolidate last week’s gains,” he told Bernama.
Innes noted that China’s second quarter (2Q) 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) and Industrial Production data will be the focus today, and the ringgit’s movement would depend on the reports.
“Strong data from China will support the Chinese yuan and pull the ringgit along for the ride,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit could stabilise at the current level as the market await the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next week.
He also said that concerns over the sustainability of China’s recovery would mean that the People’s Bank of China would continue to remain dovish in its monetary policy stand.
“All in all, I believe the MYR/USD would linger around RM4.52-RM4.53 today,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It fell vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0902/0969 from 5.0799/0827 at Friday’s close, slipped against the British pound to 5.9370/9448 from 5.9338/9371 previously and slid versus the Japanese yen to 3.2747/2795 from 3.2659/2679 last week.
The local note also traded easier against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit dipped against the Thai baht to 13.0857/1091 from last Friday’s close of 13.0689/0814 and declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.4321/4369 from 3.4263/4287 previously.
It had also eased against the Indonesian rupiah to 303.1/303.7 from 302.5/302.8 last week and weakened against the Philippines’ peso at 8.33/8.35 from 8.31/8.33 previously.
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 RM41.62 billion in the conventional system and RM26.05 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will conduct a RM1 billion conventional money market tender and a RM1 billion Qard tender, both for seven days.
It will also call for two reverse repo tenders, namely a RM1.5 billion tender for 31 days and a RM500 million tender for 92 days.
BNM also announced the opening of the Bank Negara Interbank Bills Islamic (BNIBI) tender worth RM4 billion for 32 days, to be issued on July 20, 2023.
At the same time, 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 RM42.1 billion conventional overnight tender and RM26.0 billion Murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the opening Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 USD 4.5355/5415
100 yen 3.2747/2795
1 pound 5.9370/9448
1 euro 5.0902/0969
1 SGD 3.4321/4369
100 baht 13.0857/1091
1 mln rupiah 303.1/303.7
100 pesos 8.33/8.35
Gold down
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM275.83 per gramme, down 14 sen from RM275.97 at 5 pm last Friday. – BERNAMA
