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KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit snapped its three-day losing streak to open higher against the US dollar in the early session today as the greenback softened following a lower-than-expected United States Ápril consumer price index data released last night.
At 9am, the local note rose to 4.4470/4505 versus the US dollar from yesterday’s closing rate of 4.4565/4605.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US inflation rate moderated to 4.9% year-on-year in April, lower compared to consensus estimates of 5%.
Meanwhile, the core inflation rate stood at 5.5% matching the consensus forecast.
“Generally speaking, the US inflation rate has been progressively lower after reaching 9.1% in June last year, suggesting the restrictive monetary policy stance by the US Federal Reserve has led to lower inflation although still above the 2% target.
“As such, the chance of a pause in the Fed Fund Rate is rising, leading to a weaker dollar. Hence, the ringgit might appreciate against the greenback today,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
It depreciated against the euro to 4.8877/8915 from 4.8830/8874 at yesterday’s close and went down against the Japanese yen to 3.3162/3190 from 3.2962/2994 yesterday, but was higher vis-a-vis the British pound at 5.6188/6232 versus 5.6254/6305 previously.
At the same time, the local note traded mixed against Asean currencies.
It improved vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.2331/2495 from 13.2354/2528 and gained versus the Indonesian rupiah to 301.8/302.2 from 302.4/302.8 yesterday.
However, the local note slipped to 3.3588/3619 against the Singapore dollar compared with 3.3563/3596 on Wednesday and was flat against the Philippines’ peso to 8.00/8.01 from 8.00/8.01 previously.
Bursa Malaysia rebounded to open marginally higher due to bargain hunting, in line with Wall Street’s positive performance overnight, a dealer said.
At 9.43am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 0.63 points to 1,426.31 from yesterday’s close of 1,425.68.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 186 to 175, while 1,275 counters were unchanged, 615 untraded and 35 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 1.02 million units worth RM317.22 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street rebounded after inflation data came in better than anticipated, adding that the Nasdaq surged almost 127 points and S&P500 gained 18 points.
Back home, he said the FBM KLCI closed lower yesterday in tandem with the weak regional performance.
“As for today, we expect bargain hunting to emerge, given the cheap valuation of the key index, particularly the banking and telecommunication stocks.
“Hence, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,425-1,435 range for today,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB increased two sen each to RM8.72, RM4.01 and RM5.04, respectively.
Petronas Chemicals lost eight sen to RM7.23, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.90.
As for the actives, Bahvest rose 1.5 sen to 13 sen, while both Vinvest and Aimflex were half-a-sen higher at 20.5 sen and 17.5 sen, respectively.
Autocount added 2.5 sen to 70 sen and Seal gained three sen to 44 sen, while Komark was flat at 9.0 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index advanced 1.52 points to 10,446.52 and the FBMT 100 Index edged up 0.70 points to 10,143.04, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 15.99 points to 10,781.20, the FBM ACE Index was 27.04 points lower at 5,014.32 and the FBM 70 index trimmed 14.87 points to 13,561.45.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.40 points to 169.15 and the Energy Index decreased 0.31 points to 833.0, while the Financial Services Index strengthened 34.31 points to 15,632.26 and the Plantation Index rose 2.39 points to 6,840.91. – Bernama, May 11, 2023