KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar on Monday (Aug 15), as buying interest for the local note continued, backed by encouraging economic growth data and easing sentiment for the greenback due to the latest inflation data, analysts said.
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At 9 am, the local currency had risen to 4.4430/4480, versus the greenback from last Friday’s close at 4.4435/4455.
According to reports, given the positive gross domestic product growth of 8.9% in the second quarter of 2022 (2Q22), Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz expects that Malaysia’s growth will continue to accelerate in 3Q22, driven by private consumption.
Last week, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said the ringgit had remained relatively stable against the currencies of Malaysia’s major trading partners, despite the stronger US dollar environment.
The governor said that in 2Q22, the ringgit’s nominal effective exchange rate stood at a marginal depreciation of 0.1%.
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Meanwhile, the ringgit saw mixed trading against a basket of major currencies on Monday morning.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.2424/2465 from 3.2406/2428 at last Friday’s close, and weakened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.3956/3439 from 3.3292/3310 previously.
However, the local note appreciated versus the British pound to 5.3956/4017 from 5.3975/3999 last Friday, and rose marginally against the euro at 4.5621/5672 from 4.5759/5780 previously.-BERNAMA