RINGGIT RISES AMID PERSISTENT UNCERTAINTY OVER US-CHINA TRADE TENSIONS

By Siti Noor Afera Abu

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- The ringgit strengthened against the US dollar at the opening on Friday, as the US Dollar Index (DXY) continued to hover below the 100-point mark amid persistent uncertainty over the US-China trade tensions.

At 8 am, the local currency strengthened to 4.3995/4150 against the greenback, from Thursday’s close of 4.4050/4095.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit appreciated by 0.08 per cent to RM4.4073 against the US dollar on Thursday, in line with the softer DXY.

“Given the current weakness in the greenback, the US dollar-ringgit pair is expected to remain around the RM4.40 level,” he told Bernama.

He said the latest US initial jobless claims data dropped to 215,000 last week, indicating relative resilience in the US labour market despite ongoing economic uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

It was weaker versus the Japanese yen at 3.0893/1019 from 3.0849/0883 on Thursday, depreciated against the British pound to 5.8368/8574 from 5.8331/8391, but rose vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0027/0203 from 5.0102/0154.

The local note performed better against most ASEAN currencies.

It edged up versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3548/3705 from 3.3562/3601 and strengthened against the Thai baht to 13.1651/2491 from 13.2211/2417.

The ringgit was firm vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah at 261.3/262.4 from 261.6/262.0 and increased against the Philippine peso at 7.76/7.80 compared to 7.77/7.79.

-- BERNAMA