KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit opened flat against the dollar today as investors stayed on the sidelines, awaiting fresh local catalysts.
At 9.02am, the ringgit opened unchanged at 4.0490/0520 as yesterday.
An analyst said while economists and the central bank foresee improved economic outlook for 2021, investors are still concerned about the rising number of Covid-19 cases around the world.
“Despite the tremendous improvement on the vaccine front, there are still concerns of further movement control measures taking place to curb the virus spread,” he said.
On external factors, he said the United States Federal Reserve’s (US Fed) undertaking to purchase bonds until it sees substantial economic progress is seen as a move to stabilise the US financial market post-Covid-19.
The US Fed is now buying bonds at the rate of US$120 billion (RM485 billion) per month.
“This signals a weak economic recovery until early next year before it slowly stages a rebound,” the analyst said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded easier against all other major currencies.
It marginally rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0464 from 3.0469/0518 at yesterday’s close and added against the British pound to 5.4698/4743 from 5.4722/4806.
The ringgit also strengthened against the euro to 4.9365/9414 from 4.9418/9487 yesterday and climbed against the Japanese yen to 3.9155/9188 from 3.9197/9253 previously. – Bernama, December 17, 2020
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