KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — The ringgit is likely to remain within a tight range against the US dollar next week on mixed market sentiments, an analyst said.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said markets continue to expect the local currency to weaken and view this as a buying opportunity.
“I think we will be trading in a similar 4.38 to 4.41 range next week until China’s economic activity data begins to improve.
“Local traders will be very dependent on China’s data over the short term,” he told Bernama.
Yesterday, the ADP Non-farm Employment Change data, a monthly economic indicator in the US, came in higher than expected. The data showed that private businesses in the US created 235,000 jobs in December 2022, well above market forecasts of 150,000. This was generally bullish for the dollar, he said.
For the first week of 2023, the ringgit traded mostly higher against the US dollar as risk sentiments improved due to optimism over China’s reopening.
On a week-on-week basis, the ringgit was slightly lower against the US dollar at 4.4005/4070 on Friday from 4.3995/4095 a week earlier.
The local note, however, traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
It strengthened against the British pound to 5.2159/2336 from 5.2930/305 on the previous Friday and improved against the euro at 4.6254/6322 from 4.6881/6988 last week.
The local unit appreciated vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.2739/2793 from 3.3307/3385 and rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.2664/2717 from 3.2786/2865 over the seven-day period. — Bernama
