KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed stronger against the US dollar today on bearish outlook on the greenback, a dealer said.
At 6pm, the local note traded at 4.1790/1830 against the US dollar compared with Friday’s 4.1830/1880.
OANDA head of trading Asia-Pacific, Stephen Innes, said there had been some interest in “carry trade” ahead of what’s expected to be a dovish-leaning Federal Reserve Board with expectations that the US dollar would run out of gas in 2019, making emerging market currencies, especially in Asia, look attractive.
“There is a growing feeling we’re reaching ‘peak tariff war’, in other words the US will not escalate tariffs,” he told Bernama.
He added that even though the ringgit is not precisely a higher yielder compared to the Indonesian rupiah, Indian rupee and Philippine peso, the local unit is still attractive to investors.
Against major currencies, the ringgit was mostly lower
It rose to 3.0388/0440 against the Singapore dollar from 3.0393/0434 on Friday but fell to 3.6865/6910 against the Japanese yen from 3.6842/6895.
The local unit weakened against the British pound to 5.2651/2714 from 5.2635/2710 and depreciated against the euro to 4.7340/7393 from 4.7239/7299. — Bernama
