KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower versus the US dollar today on further appreciation of the US dollar Index (DXY) as investors remain wary of the global growth prospect outlook especially in China.
At 9.01 am, the local note declined to 4.6275/6295 against the US dollar compared with 4.6140/6175 at Monday’s closing.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the key data points from China today include the Fixed Asset Investment whereby consensus estimates expected it to be sustained at 3.8 per cent in July.
Besides that, he noted the Retail Sales data in the United States (US) is expected to increase by 0.4 per cent month-on-month in July from 0.2 per cent previously, suggesting the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) pivot would not occur in the near term.
“As such, the ringgit-US dollar exchange is likely to flirt around its near-term resistance level of 4.6257 today,” Mohd Afzanizam told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It marginally rose against the Japanese yen to 3.1822/1838 from 3.1832/1858 on Monday, improved versus the euro to 5.0468/0489 from 5.0519/0557, but fell vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.8691/8716 from 5.8575/8619 previously.
In the meantime, the local unit was traded lower against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit eased against the Indonesian rupiah to 302.1/302.4 from 301.2/301.6 on Monday and weakened against the Philippine peso to 8.15/8.18 from 8.11/8.13.
It was lower versus the Singapore dollar to 3.4124/4143 from 3.4064/4095 at Monday’s close and declined vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.1232/1337 from 13.1173/1332 yesterday.
Short-term rates stable
KUALA LUMPUR: 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 RM36.40 billion in the conventional system and RM15.70 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will conduct a RM1 billion conventional money market tender for seven days and a RM500 million Qard tender 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 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, it will conduct up to RM37.4 billion conventional overnight tender and RM15.2 billion for Murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the opening Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 USD 4.6275/6295
100 yen 3.1822/1838
1 pound 5.8691/8716
1 euro 5.0468/0489
1 SGD 3.4124/4143
100 baht 13.1232/1337
1 mln rupiah 302.1/302.4
100 pesos 8.15/8.18
Exchange rates issued by Malayan Banking Bhd today
| SELLING TT/OD | BUYING TT | BUYING OD | |
| 1 US Dollar | 4.6945 | 4.5615 | 4.5345 |
| 1 Australian Dollar | 3.0630 | 2.9430 | 2.9060 |
| 1 Brunei Dollar | 3.4620 | 3.3630 | 3.3510 |
| 1 Canadian Dollar | 3.4850 | 3.3930 | 3.3620 |
| 1 Euro | 5.1290 | 4.9640 | 4.9490 |
| 1 New Zealand Dollar | 2.8130 | 2.7120 | 2.6810 |
| 1 Papua N Guinea Kina | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1 Singapore Dollar | 3.4620 | 3.3630 | 3.3510 |
| 1 Sterling Pound | 5.9630 | 5.7770 | 5.7440 |
| 1 Swiss Franc | 5.3310 | 5.2120 | 5.1950 |
| 100 UAE Dirham | 129.3800 | 122.7200 | 121.7200 |
| 100 Bangladesh Taka | 4.3640 | 4.0960 | 3.8690 |
| 100 Chinese Renminbi | 65.1400 | 62.4000 | N/A |
| 100 Danish Krone | 70.5500 | 64.9500 | 64.5300 |
| 100 Hongkong Dollar | 60.7000 | 57.7100 | 57.1500 |
| 100 Indian Rupee | 5.7400 | 5.3900 | 5.1700 |
| 100 Indonesian Rupiah | 0.0317 | 0.0287 | 0.0236 |
| 100 Japanese Yen | 3.2330 | 3.1310 | 3.1190 |
| 100 New Taiwan Dollar | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 100 Norwegian Krone | 45.9700 | 42.2800 | 42.0500 |
| 100 Pakistan Rupee | 1.6600 | 1.5500 | 1.3600 |
| 100 Philippine Peso | 8.4100 | 7.9300 | 7.7000 |
| 100 Qatar Riyal | 130.4000 | 123.7900 | 122.7200 |
| 100 Saudi Riyal | 126.6100 | 120.2000 | 119.2200 |
| 100 South Africa Rand | 25.5000 | 23.0400 | 22.8000 |
| 100 Sri Lanka Rupee | 1.5000 | 1.3800 | 1.1800 |
| 100 Swedish Krona | 44.8200 | 40.8300 | 40.2500 |
| 100 Thai Baht | 13.9100 | 12.3400 | 11.8900 |
Gold down
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM274.01 per gramme, down 39 sen from RM274.40 at 5 pm yesterday. – BERNAMA
