KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — The ringgit opened slightly higher today against the US dollar in line with its regional peers as it waits for the development on the US-China trade deal.
At 9am, the ringgit stood at 4.0880/0930 compared with 4.0890/0940 during Friday’s close.
A dealer said, this is after China’s national news agency Xinhua reported that investors will be watching out for developments on the US and China trade front following a telephone call between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
“It was said that the two sides have made further progress on the context of a trade agreement,” he told Bernama.
However, he said that positive progress might just be temporary as things might shift at any time.
“This is not the first time the market reacts to news on the US-China trade conflict and hopes for a positive outcome,” he said.
Meanwhile, he added that the ringgit is also heavily influenced by the higher oil price, palm oil crisis with the European Union (EU) as well as the movement of the Chinese yuan.
“The oil price rally has a limit and most probably it will not surpass the benchmark of US$70 per barrel anytime soon. The palm oil issue with the EU is afraid to have impacts on other trades as well. In order to push the ringgit further, a strong local policy must be implemented to gain market confidence,” he said.
As of 9am, the benchmark Brent crude stood at US$67.05 compared with US$67.18 last Friday.
On the local front, investors were also waiting for the release of February’s Consumer Price Index on March 22.
Against other major currencies, the ringgit traded lower.
It declined against the Japanese yen to 3.6647/6699 from 3.6623/6671, depreciated versus the British pound to 5.4325/4396 from 5.4220/4307 last Friday.
The local note also eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0210/0249 from 3.0197/0245 while the euro has slightly increased to 4.6280/6341 from 4.6287/6360. — Bernama
