KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit continues its upward momentum to open marginally higher against the US dollar on Monday as the local note seemed to have been stabilised by the Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) intervention, said an analyst.
At 9 am, the local unit rose to 4.6615/6650 versus the greenback compared to 4.6635/6705 at last Friday’s close.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the BNM’s Financial Market Committee (FMC) announcement was a timely statement as the currency market was bogged down by the anticipation of further interest rate hikes in the US and other major economies in Europe.
Mohd Afzanizam said the focus this week would be on BNM’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on July 6, in which he believed that the overnight policy rate (OPR) would be maintained at 3.00 per cent.
“Apart from that, the US Nonfarm Payroll (NFP) will also be the key highlight of the week whereby the NFP is expected to decline to 200,000 in June after rising by 339,000 in the preceding month.
“My sense is that the ringgit could stabilise around RM4.65 to RM4.66 today,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the positive local sentiment was also buoyed by the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) attempts to slow down the pace of Yuan depreciation by setting a strong Chinese yuan (CNY) fix daily.
He also expected local risk sentiment to ride the positive wave of Wall Street optimism last Friday, which should be good for the ringgit.
“However, all eyes will be on China to see if they will continue stabilising the yuan,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It fell vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0815/0853 from 5.0571/0647 at Friday’s close, weakened against the Japanese yen to 3.2266/2293 from 3.2220/2273 and decreased versus the British pound to 5.9150/9194 from 5.8923/9012 previously.
However, the local note traded mixed against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit was slightly down against the Singapore dollar to 3.4445/4474 versus 3.4376/4431 on Friday and slipped against the Thai baht to 13.1979/2142 from 13.1529/1786.
It was marginally better versus the Indonesian rupiah at 309.4/309.7 from 309.5/310.1 and firmer against the Philippines’ peso to 8.42/8.45 from 8.44/8.46 on Friday.
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 RM39.40 billion in the conventional system and RM28.48 billion in Islamic funds.
Today, the central bank will conduct two qard tenders, comprising of RM900 million tender for seven days and a RM400 million tender for 14 days.
It will also call for two reverse repo tenders, consisting of a RM1 billion tender for 31 days and a RM500 million tender for 92 days.
Additionally, the central bank will conduct a RM5 billion Bank Negara Interbank Bills Islamic (BNIBI) tender for 33 days.
The central bank 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 a RM40.9 billion conventional overnight tender and a RM27.2 billion Murabahah overnight tender.
Foreign exchange rates
Following are the opening Malaysian foreign exchange for major currencies today:
1 USD 4.6615/6650
100 yen 3.2266/2293
1 pound 5.9150/9194
1 euro 5.0815/0853
1 SGD 3.4445/4474
100 baht 13.1979/2142
1 mln rupiah 309.4/309.7
100 pesos 8.42/8.45
Malayan Banking Bhd exchange rates for today:
| SELLING TT/OD | BUYING TT | BUYING OD | |
| 1 US Dollar | 4.7325 | 4.5985 | 4.5820 |
| 1 Australian Dollar | 3.1670 | 3.0390 | 3.0180 |
| 1 Brunei Dollar | 3.5030 | 3.4030 | 3.3810 |
| 1 Canadian Dollar | 3.5660 | 3.4660 | 3.4610 |
| 1 Euro | 5.1670 | 4.9950 | 4.9660 |
| 1 New Zealand Dollar | 2.9140 | 2.8040 | 2.7740 |
| 1 Papua N Guinea Kina | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1 Singapore Dollar | 3.5030 | 3.4030 | 3.3810 |
| 1 Sterling Pound | 6.0230 | 5.8360 | 5.7670 |
| 1 Swiss Franc | 5.2750 | 5.1540 | 5.0980 |
| 100 UAE Dirham | 130.3200 | 123.4500 | 124.0400 |
| 100 Bangladesh Taka | 4.4020 | 4.1260 | 3.9950 |
| 100 Chinese Renminbi | 65.2000 | 63.0000 | N/A |
| 100 Danish Krone | 71.1200 | 65.3900 | 65.3600 |
| 100 Hongkong Dollar | 61.0000 | 57.9200 | 58.0900 |
| 100 Indian Rupee | 5.8600 | 5.5000 | 5.3300 |
| 100 Indonesian Rupiah | 0.0327 | 0.0296 | 0.0246 |
| 100 Japanese Yen | 3.2830 | 3.1770 | 3.1600 |
| 100 New Taiwan Dollar | 16.3000 | N/A | N/A |
| 100 Norwegian Krone | 45.2100 | 41.5300 | 41.3700 |
| 100 Pakistan Rupee | 1.6800 | 1.5800 | 1.3700 |
| 100 Philippine Peso | 8.6900 | 8.1800 | 8.0100 |
| 100 Qatar Riyal | 131.2300 | 124.5800 | 125.0300 |
| 100 Saudi Riyal | 127.4800 | 121.0100 | 121.5300 |
| 100 South Africa Rand | 26.0500 | 23.5200 | 23.2000 |
| 100 Sri Lanka Rupee | 1.5800 | 1.4500 | 1.2500 |
| 100 Swedish Krona | 45.2400 | 41.1600 | 40.9200 |
| 100 Thai Baht | 14.0100 | 12.4100 | 11.9500 |
Gold up
Friday the physical price of gold as at 9.30 am stood at RM278.23 per gramme, up RM3.07 sen from RM275.16 at 5 pm last. – BERNAMA
