KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar, as demand for the greenback paused overnight, following a mixed US stock market, analysts said.
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It was reported that some US stocks trimmed their gains but closed mostly higher.
At 9am on Wednesday (Aug 17), the local currency had edged up to 4.4630/4660 versus the greenback, from the previous close at 4.4660/4680.
However, gains in the ringgit were capped by better US data, where data on building permits in the US came higher than expected.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said this showed that the real estate market in the US was more heated than expected, which could generate inflation in the short and medium term.
“Inflation could in turn trigger further increases in interest rates. The recent bullish move marked the beginning of a possible breakout of the 2020 high resistance region.
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“Meanwhile, a downside break of 4.44 could signal an entry of bearish strength, and bring the US dollar-ringgit [pair] towards the 4.3650 region,” Diniz told Bernama.
Against a basket of major currencies, the ringgit was, however, traded mostly lower.
It marginally eased against the Singapore dollar at 3.2378/2405 from 3.2346/2365 at Tuesday’s close, and slightly rose vis-a-vis the yen at 3.3276/3301 from 3.3284/3301 previously.
The local unit declined versus the pound to 5.4025/4061 from 5.3686/3710, and dipped against the euro at 4.5384/5415 from 4.5258/5279 at Tuesday’s close.-BERNAMA