KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 ― The ringgit was little changed against the US dollar in early trade today as the market digested a slew of vaccine news.
At 9.08am, the local currency reached 4.1100/1150 versus the greenback compared with yesterday's close of 4.1080/1130.
US drugmaker Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech announced Monday their Covid-19 vaccine candidate is more than 90 per cent effective against the novel coronavirus.
However, it was reported that the vaccine will not be coming to the public anytime soon.
“I think the direction of travel is correct as what the absent blue wave stimulus package won't deliver for emerging market currencies, the vaccine will more than deliver a big shot in the arm, especially to currencies that rely on oil export quotient to balance the coffers,” Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes told Bernama.
It was also reported Australia has commenced locally manufacturing a Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford yesterday, with roughly 30 million doses planned to be made.
Despite still undergoing clinical trials, the vaccine, which was co-developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, is considered one of the more promising vaccines globally.
Meanwhile, an analyst said mild profit-taking activities may be factors capping the uptrend of the ringgit today. He said the ringgit hit 4.1080 level yesterday, the highest seen since February 2020.
Overall, the ringgit was mostly higher against other major currencies except the British pound, decreasing to 5.4133/4215 from 5.3922/4004 at yesterday’s close.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0510/0565 from 3.0586/0630, improved against the euro to 4.8563/8639 from 4.8770/8850, and stronger vis-a-vis the yen at 3.9087/9146 from 3.9599/9659. ― Bernama
