Ringgit on defensive after dollar jumps on strong US data

 

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit traded higher against major currencies but was marginally lower against the dollar at today’s opening on positive developments in US data.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US dollar held steady against the ringgit as higher-than-expected US Producer Price Index (PPI) data and lower-than-forecast Initial Jobless Claims data were among the factors supporting the greenback.

The headline PPI and Core PPI rose 0.6% and 0.3% month-on-month, respectively, in February, higher than consensus estimates of 0.3% and 0.2%.

Meanwhile, the Initial Jobless Claims was down to 209,000 last week from 210,000 in the week prior while consensus estimates stood at 218,000.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said retail sales also grew positively to 0.6% in February from -1.1% in the previous month.

“All in all, the incoming data underscore the resilience of the US economy despite having to contend with a restrictive monetary policy stance while inflation risk is still tilted on the upside,” he added.

He also said that the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next week will be important as the market would like to see the latest US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) forecast on the Fed Fund Rate.

At 9am, the ringgit eased slightly to 4.6980/4.7035 against the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.6845/4.6878.

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

The local currency strengthened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1645/3.1684 from 3.1691/3.1721 on Thursday, gained against the British pound to 5.9834/5.9904 from 6.0021/6.0072 and advanced versus the euro to 5.1105/5.1165 from 5.1243/5.1287.

Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mixed against other Asean currencies.

It was higher versus the Thai baht at 13.1178/13.1383 from 13.1470/13.1641 during Thursday’s close and appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.5133/3.5180 from 3.5160/3.5193 previously.

However, the local currency slid against the Philippine peso at 8.47/8.49 compared with 8.45/8.46 yesterday and was down against the Indonesian rupiah to 301.4/302.0 from 300.5/301.0. - FMT