KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — The ringgit opened 0.23 per cent higher against the US dollar today as the improving crude oil prices painted a more friendly outlook for the medium term.
At 9.01am, the local unit rose 100 basis-point to 4.3550/3645 versus the greenback from 4.3650/3750 at Wednesday’s close.
AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes said the ringgit was advancing on a more friendly outlook for medium-term oil prices, as the market seemed to be sidestepping the dreary near-term outlook in favour of an anticipated robust oil price recovery in the third quarter of the year (Q3 2020).
“This is getting reflected in the global oil-linked stocks which outperformed yesterday, as they were supported by high dividends and expectations of a positive oil price correction in Q3 2020,” he said in a note today.
At 9.23am, US crude oil futures benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was 1.52 per cent higher at US$13.99 per barrel while the international benchmark Brent Crude increased 1.67 per cent to US$20.71 per barrel.
Malaysia is a net exporter of crude oil and petroleum products, hence, crude oil price movements exert a significant influence on the strength of the ringgit.
At the opening, the local note also traded higher against other major currencies.
It appreciated against the yen to 4.0399/0498 from 4.0525/0626 on Wednesday and strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0480/0557 from 3.0582/0659.
Vis-a-vis the euro, the ringgit advanced to 4.7086/7198 from 4.7400/7517 previously while against the pound, it increased to 5.3649/3771 from 5.3964/4106 yesterday. — Bernama