29 minutes
KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit rebounded from yesterday’s losses against the US dollar to open higher on Wednesday.
At 9.02am, the local note improved to 4.1800/1850 against the greenback from 4.2045/2085 recorded at 6pm yesterday.
AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes said yesterday’s interest cuts by the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) should play out favourably for the ringgit as the revision will provide a demand impulse across a multitude of high-ticket sectors.
“The ringgit should trade favourably today after the US Federal Reserve rate cut, which should see the post BNM rate duration bond flows into Malaysian Government Securities,” he said.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced Tuesday it would cut its baseline rate range by 0.5 percentage points to a 1 to 1.25 per cent spread.
In addition, other major central banks around the world are also expected to cut interest rates soon or take other steps to shield the global economy from the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded higher against other major currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0161/0208 from 3.0194/0233 on Tuesday and increased versus the Japanese yen to 3.8898/8956 from 3.8934/8982.
The local unit appreciated against the British pound to 5.3625/3694 from yesterday’s 5.3725/3793 and improved vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6686/6759 from 4.6775/6836 previously. — Bernama
