KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar on Monday (May 30) on renewed buying interest amid China’s risk sentiment and ahead of the US economic data this week, said an analyst.
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At 9am, the local note had risen to 4.3730/3755 versus the greenback from last Friday’s close at 4.3775/3800.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said this is a very important week packed with US economic data that would expound on the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) near-term growth and labour market outlook heading into the June 15 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
“So, I think traders will pay attention as any weakness in the data would reduce the chance for the Fed to hike rates aggressively and could slightly weaken the US dollar,” he told Bernama.
He also expects the ringgit to be confined to a tight range and Asian foreign exchange to remain in wait-and-see mode.
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Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The local note rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1959/1980 from last Friday’s close at 3.1962/1982 and climbed vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.4409/4431 from 3.4450/4472.
However, the ringgit slid versus the British pound to 5.5222/5254 from 5.5170/5201 and shed versus the euro to 4.6922/6949 from 4.6905/6932.-BERNAMA