KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit kick-started the week on a positive note, opening higher against the US dollar today as the US Dollar Index (DXY) declined on Friday last week.
At 9.10 am, the local note rose to 4.5430/5500 against the greenback compared with 4.5515/5565 at Friday’s close.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the DXY declined as the United States (US) Nonfarm Payroll (NFP) figures fell short of expectations, with only 187,000 jobs added compared to the consensus estimate of 200,000.
“This showed a softening in the US labour market as evident in the average job creation of 258,000 per month for the first seven months, a significant decrease from the 463,000 per month in the same period in 2022,” he told Bernama.
As such, Mohd Afzanizam expects the ringgit to be traded within a narrow range of RM4.53-RM4.54 today.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It dropped against the Japanese yen to 3.2045/2097 from 3.1898/1935 at the close last Friday, weakened versus the euro to 4.9996/0073 from 4.9816/9871 last week and declined vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.7941/8031 from 5.7836/7899 previously.
At the same time, the local unit was traded mostly lower against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit appreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 299.4/300.0 from 299.9/300.5 on Friday, but slid against the Singapore dollar to 3.3911/3965 from 3.3891/3933, depreciated vis-a-vis the Philippines’ peso to 8.17/8.18 from 8.16/8.17 last week and slipped against the Thai baht to 13.1020/1279 from 13.0835/1043 previously.
Short-terms rates 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 RM39.02 billion in the conventional system and RM27.28 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will conduct a RM1 billion conventional money market tender for seven days and two Qard tenders, comprising a RM1.1 billion tender for seven days and a RM1 billion tender for 14 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.
Additionally, the central bank announced the opening of a RM3 billion Bank Negara Interbank Bills Islamic (BNIBI) tender for 30 days, to be issued on Aug 9.
At 4 pm, BNM will conduct up to RM39.5 billion conventional overnight tender and RM25.2 billion for Murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the opening Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 USD 4.5430/5500
100 yen 3.2045/2097
1 pound 5.7941/8031
1 euro 4.9996/0073
1 SGD 3.3911/3965
100 baht 13.1020/1279
1 mln rupiah 299.4/300.0
100 pesos 8.17/8.18
Exchange rates issued by Malayan Banking Bhd today
| SELLING TT/OD | BUYING TT | BUYING OD | |
| 1 US Dollar | 4.6110 | 4.4770 | 4.4770 |
| 1 Australian Dollar | 3.0510 | 2.9300 | 2.9070 |
| 1 Brunei Dollar | 3.4420 | 3.3420 | 3.3310 |
| 1 Canadian Dollar | 3.4440 | 3.3530 | 3.3470 |
| 1 Euro | 5.0840 | 4.9200 | 4.8750 |
| 1 New Zealand Dollar | 2.8260 | 2.7230 | 2.6990 |
| 1 Papua N Guinea Kina | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1 Singapore Dollar | 3.4420 | 3.3420 | 3.3310 |
| 1 Sterling Pound | 5.8900 | 5.7070 | 5.6710 |
| 1 Swiss Franc | 5.2630 | 5.1420 | 5.1130 |
| 100 UAE Dirham | 127.0400 | 120.4700 | 120.2700 |
| 100 Bangladesh Taka | 4.2960 | 4.0310 | 3.8370 |
| 100 Chinese Renminbi | 64.7500 | 62.0300 | N/A |
| 100 Danish Krone | 69.9400 | 64.3700 | 63.8400 |
| 100 Hongkong Dollar | 59.6800 | 56.7100 | 56.5300 |
| 100 Indian Rupee | 5.6700 | 5.3200 | 5.1200 |
| 100 Indonesian Rupiah | 0.0315 | 0.0285 | 0.0235 |
| 100 Japanese Yen | 3.2600 | 3.1560 | 3.1290 |
| 100 New Taiwan Dollar | 15.6000 | N/A | N/A |
| 100 Norwegian Krone | 46.7300 | 42.9700 | 42.3700 |
| 100 Pakistan Rupee | 1.6500 | 1.5400 | 1.3500 |
| 100 Philippine Peso | 8.4000 | 7.9200 | 7.7400 |
| 100 Qatar Riyal | 127.9900 | 121.5000 | 121.3400 |
| 100 Saudi Riyal | 124.3100 | 118.0100 | 117.8100 |
| 100 South Africa Rand | 25.9100 | 23.3900 | 22.9100 |
| 100 Sri Lanka Rupee | 1.4800 | 1.3600 | 1.1600 |
| 100 Swedish Krona | 44.9700 | 40.9600 | 40.4000 |
| 100 Thai Baht | 13.8900 | 12.3300 | 11.9500 |
Gold down
The physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM274.25 per gramme, up72 sen from RM273.53 at 5 pm yesterday. – BERNAMA
