RINGGIT CLOSES SLIGHTLY HIGHER AGAINST US DOLLAR ON WEAKER US DATA

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Bernama) -- The ringgit rose marginally against the greenback today as the US Dollar Index (DXY) declined due to weaker United States (US) economic data.

At 6.01 pm, the ringgit stood at 4.7055/7105 versus the US dollar compared with last Friday's close of 4.7065/7110.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US nonfarm payrolls for May was revised downwards last week from 272,000 to 218,000, suggesting that the US labour market may not be entirely robust.

Although the labour force participation rate was slightly higher to 62.6 per cent in June compared with 62.5 per cent in May, it was still lower than the 62.7 per cent achieved during March and April this year, he said.

At the same time, Mohd Afzanizam noted, the US is steadily witnessing an increase in the unemployment rate to 4.1 per cent in June from 3.9 per cent and 4.0 per cent in April and May, respectively.

Hence, US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to the US Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday this week is quite critical as market participants would be searching for any clue of easing biases, he told Bernama.

“In the grand scheme of things, disinflation trend has emerged while growth appears to be softening. Therefore, the case to pivot towards a more accommodative monetary stance could be warranted to ensure economic growth would be supported.

“Against such a backdrop, the ringgit does look constructive to end the year at RM4.65,” Mohd Afzanizam said. 

Meanwhile, at the close, the ringgit traded mainly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It appreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.9219/9252 from 2.9286/9315 at Friday’s close and edged up vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0923/0977 from 5.0953/1001 at the end of last week, but was easier versus the British pound to 6.0273/0337 from 6.0182/0240 previously.

The ringgit traded mainly weaker against its ASEAN peers.

It strengthened versus the Singapore dollar to 3.4848/4887 from 3.4876/4912 at Friday’s close.

However, the local note eased against the Indonesian rupiah to 289.4/290.0 from 289.1/289.5 at the previous close, fell versus the Thai baht to 12.9268/9456 from 12.8646/881 last Friday, and slipped against the Philippine peso to 8.05/8.06 from 8.04/8.05.

-- BERNAMA