KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — The ringgit rebounded to end higher against the US dollar today, backed by rising crude oil prices amid the high number of daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia.

At 6pm, the local note gained by 115 basis points to 4.2205/2250 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.2320/2345.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the ringgit recorded a marginal appreciation but remained around 4.2200 per US dollar level as oil prices continued to increase despite an unexpected rise in US crude oil inventories.

At press time, the benchmark Brent crude oil rose by 1.14 per cent to US$73.05 (RM308) per barrel.

Advertisement

Adam noted that buying interest for the local currency also seemed to have recovered ahead of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data set to be released tomorrow.

Meanwhile, he said the higher number of new Covid-19 cases reported in the country today had limited any further upside for the ringgit.

Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 cases climbed to the second highest to date, recording 13,034 new cases today, bringing the cumulative total to 964,918 cases.

Advertisement

“This offsets the encouraging vaccination efforts whereby the daily doses administered stood above 400,000 doses,” he told Bernama.

At the close, the local note traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.

The ringgit strengthened vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9781/9834 from yesterday’s close of 4.9819/9849, and appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.8281/8325 from 3.8448/8474 previously.

However, the local unit declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.1026/1064 from 3.0938/0961 yesterday, and depreciated against the British pound to 5.8028/8090 from 5.7695/7729 yesterday. — Bernama