By Harizah Hanim Mohamed
KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 (Bernama) -- The ringgit ended marginally lower against the US dollar due to mild profit-taking after the local currency breached a fresh six-month high earlier today.
At 6 pm, the ringgit eased to 4.6680/4710 versus the greenback from yesterday’s closing of 4.6625/6660.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit was stabilising today after being on an uptrend, having appreciated by one per cent against the US dollar since the beginning of this month.
“It is normal for the currency to stay at the prevailing level after rising significantly against the US dollar,” he told Bernama.
Prior to today, the ringgit had hit a new six-month high every day since Friday last week.
Mohd Afzanizam said that recent reports by foreign institutions have further lent support for the positive ringgit trajectory.
Fitch Ratings has maintained Malaysia’s sovereign credit rating at BBB+ with a “stable” outlook, underpinned by a diversified economy and export base.
JP Morgan has also upgraded Malaysia’s rating from “underweight” to “neutral” after almost six years, crediting the country’s policy reforms, data centre investments and infrastructure build-up.
The ringgit, which opened at 4.6640, traded between 4.6590 and 4.6685 during the day.
It traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local currency fell versus the Japanese yen to 2.9827/9849 from 2.9809/9834 at Wednesday’s close but gained against the British pound to 6.0628/0667 from 6.0813/0859 yesterday and improved vis-a-vis the euro to 5.1021/1054 from 5.1022/1060 previously.
The ringgit is also mostly higher against ASEAN currencies.
It strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.4807/4832 from 3.4810/4839 at yesterday’s close, inched up versus the Indonesian rupiah to 288.9/289.2 from 289.5/289.9 previously, and appreciated vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.9750/9887 from 12.9918/13.0070.
However, it slipped against the Philippine peso to 8.01/8.02 from 7.99/8.00 yesterday.
-- BERNAMA
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