KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — The ringgit extended yesterday’s upward momentum against the US dollar over hopes of stimulus packages launch by Group of Seven (G-7) leaders.
At 9.01am, the local note rose to 4.1700/1750 against the greenback from yesterday's close of 4.1780/1830.
AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes said volatility is decreasing in the region, thanks to G-7 leaders, who have committed to supplying markets with massive stimulus packages to deal with impacts from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Yesterday, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva announced a UUS$50 billion aid package for low-income and emerging market countries impacted by the coronavirus.
In addition, more central banks around the world are also expected to cut interest rates soon or take other measures in response to the growing economic threat from COVID-19, following the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) move to cut its baseline rate by 0.5 percentage points on Tuesday.
The ringgit was also traded mostly higher against other major currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0102/0142 from yesterday’s close of 3.0179/0220 and increased versus the Japanese yen to 3.8787/8844 from 3.8887/8944.
The local unit also firmed vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6425/6497 from 4.6606/6678 but depreciated against the British pound to 5.3647/3728 from 5.3403/3484 previously. — Bernama
