KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 10): The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar on Thursday (Feb 10) on lack of buying interest ahead of Malaysia’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product data which is due to be released on Friday, said an analyst.
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At 9am, the local currency stood at 4.1840/1870 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close at 4.1825/1850.
The analyst said investors were in cautious mode following a surge in daily Covid-19 cases which had influenced the ringgit’s movement.
On Wednesday, it was reported that the nation’s daily Covid-19 tally rose to 17,134 from 13,944 new infections recorded for the previous day.
Nonetheless, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said judging from Wall Street’s movement on Wednesday night, the ringgit could rise on Thursday.
“Benchmark equities such as S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up by 1.45% and 2.08% respectively last night (Wednesday) following better-than-expected earnings reports from Disney and several technology companies.
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“Meanwhile, the 10-year US Treasury yield was lower by two basis points to close at 1.94%, although January’s Consumer Price Index is anticipated to come in excess of 7% year-on-year,” he told Bernama.
On that note, the ringgit could hover between 4.17 and 4.18 against the greenback on Thursday, he said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.6203/6229, compared with Wednesday’s close at 3.6250/6275, rose against the British pound to 5.6622/6663 from 5.6765/6799 and gained vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7769/7803 from 4.7785/7814.
However, the local note depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1173/1197 from 3.1148/1169 previously.-BERNAMA