KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — The ringgit opened lower today against the US dollar in line with most regional peers and declining oil prices.
AxiCorp chief global market strategist Stephen Innes, however, said the local note had been riding the strong yuan and broadly weaker US dollar coattails.
At 9am, the local currency was traded at 4.1380/1430 versus the greenback compared with 4.1320/1400 at Friday’s close.
“There has been no significant knock-on effect into the G-10 central banks from the People’s Bank of China’s intervention; any weakness in the ringgit could be bought as the prospect of a Joe Biden presidential bid and hopes for a vaccine bode well for the local note,” he told Bernama.
On the political front, Innes said a meeting between Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah could go a long way to ensuring that his party has majority parliamentary support to form a government and reduce the political cloud hanging over the ringgit.
Meanwhile, the ringgit also weakened against other major currencies.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.0541/0591 from 3.0474/0542 at last Friday’s close and decreased against the British pound to 5.3910/3979 from 5.3456/3576.
The local currency declined against the euro to 4.8890/8962 from 4.8741/8840 and depreciated versus the yen to 3.9193/9248 from 3.9014/9101. — Bernama
