KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar today with investors trading cautiously ahead of the consumer price index (CPI) data scheduled to be released on Friday, which may give hints on the rate of inflation in the country.
At 9.03am, the local note stood at 4.1540/1560 versus the greenback from 4.1690/1700 at Monday’s close.
The market was closed yesterday for the Maulidur Rasul celebrations.
An analyst said if the reading comes in higher than expected, it could strengthen the local note a little.
Some are expecting the country’s CPI to increase by 2.2% compared with 2% in August.
The CPI is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.
As for the performance of the ringgit for the rest of the year, analysts are projecting that it may not be rosy with the tapering of the US Federal Reserve bond-buying programme or quantitative easing which may see outflow of foreign funds by investors.
The Fed is expected to begin its gradual tapering process as soon as mid-November, according to minutes from the central bank’s September meeting.
At home, against a basket of emerging currencies, the local note was traded mixed.
It inched up against the Singapore dollar to 3.0871/0888 from 3.0875/0884 and appreciated versus the yen to 3.6241/6259 from 3.6449/6461.
However, the local note slipped vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.7292/7320 from 5.7245/7258 and weakened to 4.8323/8347 from 4.8285/8297 compared with the euro. – Bernama, October 20, 2021
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