By Zufazlin Baharuddin
KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 (Bernama) -- The ringgit continued to soar and touched a fresh six-month high at the opening today, as the potential of the United States (US) interest rate cut continued to propel the local note.
At 8 am, the ringgit nudged to 4.6605/6660 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.6625/6660.
The local note previously reached a six-month high against the US dollar last Friday at 4.6630.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US Federal Reserve (Fed) governor Christopher Waller has indicated that the time for a rate cut is approaching.
Besides, he said that as the Fed officials signalled that they might ease monetary policy in the near term, the US Dollar Index (DXY) fell further by 0.50 per cent to 103.748 points.
“Clearly, a possible rate cut is gaining more conviction, and therefore, it is dollar-negative at the moment.
“Hence, (there is ample) room for further appreciation for the emerging market currencies, and that includes the ringgit,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Afzanizam expects the continued appreciation for the ringgit will remain, but traders might want to take out some of the profit in the interim.
Domestically, the ringgit was mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It strengthened against the British pound to 6.0624/0695 from 6.0813/0859 at Wednesday’s close and gained vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0986/1046 from 5.1022/1060 previously.
However, it fell versus the Japanese yen to 2.9944/9983 from yesterday’s close of 2.9809/9834.
The local noted traded mostly higher against ASEAN currencies.
The ringgit increased against the Singapore dollar to 3.4785/4829 from 3.4810/4839 at yesterday’s close, inched up versus the Indonesian rupiah to 289.4/289.9 from 289.5/289.9 previously, and appreciated vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.9786/13.0023 from 12.9918/13.0070.
However, it was flat against the Philippine peso at 7.99/8.00 from 7.99/8.00 yesterday.
-- BERNAMA
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