Ringgit opens higher as weaker US jobs data weighs on greenback
The local note rises to 4.0805/4.0870 as expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate hike ease.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian ringgit opened stronger against the US dollar on Monday, as expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate increase were tempered by weaker-than-anticipated US jobs data. At 8am, the ringgit climbed to 4.0805/4.0870 against the US dollar, edging up from its Friday close of 4.0820/4.0870. Afzanizam Rashid, chief economist at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, commented on the nonfarm payrolls (NFP) report, which showed a modest 29,000 jobs added in September, falling short of the 90,000 expected by analysts.
The US unemployment rate nudged up to 4.2% in September, from the previous two months' flat 4.1%. Rashid suggested this may dissuade the Fed from raising interest rates at their upcoming meeting on Oct 27-28. The ringgit traded higher against most major currencies at the market open. It strengthened against the Japanese yen to 2.5867/2.5910, the euro to 4.5918/4.5991, while slipping against the British pound to 5.4030/5.4116.
However, it weakened against regional currencies like the Singapore dollar to 3.1891/3.1945 and the Thai baht to 12.1516/12.1764. The local note remained steady against the Philippine peso at 6.52/6.54 and the Indonesian rupiah at 228.2/228.6.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- Ringgit opens higher as weaker US jobs data weighs on greenback freemalaysiatoday.com
