KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar on Wednesday, building on gains as weaker United States jobs data fuelled expectations of interest rate cuts. At 8 am, the local currency stood at 4.2005/2170 versus the greenback, up from Tuesday’s close of 4.2025/2080.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said a preliminary revision of benchmark payrolls between April 2024 and March 2025 by the US Labour Department showed 911,000 fewer jobs created than previously estimated. “The figure reinforces market conviction that the labour market is weak and the Federal Reserve will need to resume its rate cut cycle next week,“ he told Bernama.
Still, Mohd Afzanizam said investors would be watching closely for the release of the US Producer Price Index later today to gauge sentiment. He noted consensus estimates indicated headline PPI would remain at 3.3% in August while core PPI was expected to ease from 3.7% to 3.5%.
At home, he said the ringgit was likely to keep its appreciating bias and hover around 4.20 to 4.22 per dollar. The ringgit was higher against major currencies in early trade.
It strengthened to 2.8497/8611 against the yen from 2.8711/8751 on Tuesday, appreciated to 5.6791/7014 against the pound from 5.7095/7170, and rose to 4.9154/9347 against the euro from 4.9451/9516. Against ASEAN currencies, the ringgit traded mostly firmer.
It advanced to 3.2735/2866 versus the Singapore dollar from 3.2824/2870 yesterday and to 13.2174/2794 against the baht from 13.2688/2925. The local note was little changed at 254.8/255.9 against the rupiah from 254.9/255.4 on Tuesday and steady at 7.37/7.40 against the peso from 7.37/7.39 previously. – Bernama
