The Malaysian ringgit (RM) extended its positive momentum against the US dollar (USD) following the recovery in sentiment towards the local currency.
At 9am, the RM value rose 4.2220/2260 against the USD from Wednesday’s close at 4.2290/2320.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid expects the local note to remain in trading at 4.23 against the USD today due to market volatility.
Clearly, the local economy is expected to remain resilient with the latest wholesale and retail trade data showing an increase of 8.5% to RM117.6 billion in February, and indirectly seeing the growth of the service -oriented sector accelerate due to the reopening of the economic sector.
Moreover, major equity indices in the United States (US) recorded modest gains yesterday while short-term US Treasury securities showed lower yields even though the US producer price index (PPI) was higher than forecast.
The US PPI rose 11.2% in March from 10.4% in February while the consensus showed an increase of 10.6%.
Meanwhile, the RM traded slightly lower against a number of other major currencies.
The RM depreciated against the Singapore dollar (SGD) at 3.1117/1151 from Wednesday at 3.1009/1033 and weakened against the Japanese Yen at 3.3631/3665 from 3.3548/3574.
In addition, the RM also depreciated against the British Pound at 5.5363/5416 from 5.5028/5067 while declining against the Euro at 4.5948/5992 from 4.5813/5845.
