KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today as the greenback continued to strengthen amid concerns of growing inflation, coupled with lower oil prices, a dealer said.
At 9am, the local note weakened to 4.1870/1895 versus the greenback from 4.1810/1850 at Friday’s close.
The dealer said encouraging United States (US) economic data releases and concerns over rising inflation led to calls for a quicker policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
“The US economic releases last week indicated stronger performance in October 2021 despite concerns that supply constraints and resurgence of Covid-19 cases may affect economic activities,” he said.
At press time, the benchmark Brent crude oil price fell 0.56% to US$78.45 (RM328.43).
Meanwhile, at opening, the local note was traded lower against a basket of major currencies except against the euro, where it rose to 4.7234/7262 from 4.7249/7295 on Friday.
The ringgit fell versus the British pound to 5.6265/6299 from 5.6147/6200 at Friday’s close, eased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.6706/6731 from 3.6675/6714, and slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.0728/0749 from 3.0702/0736.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia opened lower, with the key index falling 0.15%, weighed down by selected heavyweights.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 2.24 points to 1,523.30 from 1,525.54 at Friday’s close.
The index opened 1.22 points better at 1,526.76.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 214 to 165, while 261 counters were unchanged, 1,682 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 140.14 million units worth RM840.21 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it believes buying interest might resume on the local bourse, as the Melaka election concluded on Saturday.
However, the upside might be limited, given concerns over the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in European countries, which might potentially dampen the economic recovery going forward, it added.
“Meanwhile, the decline in crude oil price below US$80 per barrel could trigger some selling pressure in the energy sector. The crude palm oil is hovering around the RM5,000 zone,” Malacca Securities said in a research note today.
The brokerage said given Nasdaq closing above the 16,000 level on Friday, the market might see continued buying interest in local technology stocks, tracking Nasdaq’s overnight rally.
It noted that investors reduced exposure on oil and gas stocks on the back of falling crude oil price, while traders might be keen to position themselves ahead of the reporting season, where plantation stocks might still provide strong earnings momentum amid the firm CPO price.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.08, Maybank and TNB were flat at RM8.08 and RM9.55, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals eased two sen to RM8.29, IHH Healthcare shed three sen to RM6.51, and Hong Leong Bank trimmed 18 sen to RM18.14.
Of the actives, PDZ Holdings and Kejuruteraan Asastera edged up half-a-sen each to 6.5 sen and 35 sen, respectively, while Tanco was flat at 27 sen, Advance Synergy slipped 1.5 sen to 11 sen, Scope Industries was 2.5 sen easier at 37.5 sen, and AirAsia slid 4.0 sen to RM1.01.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 9.77 points to 11,235.87, the FBMT 100 Index fell 10.25 points to 10,885.33, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 9.36 points to 12,218.39, the FBM ACE weakened 22.64 points to 6,792.42, while the FBM 70 rose 8.42 points to 14,791.98.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.25 of-a-point to 200.04, the Financial Services Index declined 22.60 points to 15,202.98, and the Plantation Index discounted 6.88 points to 6,598.22. – Bernama, November 22, 2021
_director_Datuk_M._Kumar.jpg)
