KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — The ringgit was marginally higher against the US dollar at the close today on better oil prices and stimulus hopes for China’s economy.
At 6pm, the local note ended at 4.6730/6780 against the greenback compared with 4.6760/6805 last Friday.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the ringgit traded a tad better today given Malaysia’s strong trade ties to China, hence exporters could be hedging for possible stimulus in China by its government. “It’s been a higher one-way street on the US dollar /ringgit pair, so positions could also have been a bit stretched,” he told Bernama.
Hong Leong Bank Bhd was “neutral-to-slightly bullish” on the US dollar/ringgit pair as “the geopolitical events over the weekend are likely to result in some safe haven bid with the greenback being the beneficiary of any risk-off moves.”
“The psychological level of 4.7000 is seen as a strong resistance level for any possible upside move,” the bank said in a note today.
At the close, the local note was marginally lower versus the British pound at 5.9487/9551 from Friday’s closing of 5.9469/9527 and depreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0917/0971 from 5.0781/0830.
It was slightly higher against the Japanese yen at 3.2624/2661 from 3.2645/2680.
However, the local note strengthened against other Asean currencies except for the Philippine peso.
The ringgit went up against the Singapore dollar to 3.4536/4575 from 3.4568/4604 last Friday and rose versus the Thai baht to 13.2733/2954 from 13.2765/2950.
It improved vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 311.0/311.5 from 311.7/312.2 and depreciated against the Philippine peso to 8.39/8.40 from 8.38/8.40 previously. — Bernama
