KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened easier against the US dollar this morning amidst mixed sentiments, coupled with the falling crude oil price, said an analyst.
At 9am, the local currency depreciated to 4.4555/4.4590 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4548/4.4589.
At the time of writing, oil benchmark Brent crude fell by 0.2% to US$96.12 per barrel.
The analyst said the ringgit is expected to remain under pressure amid global growth concerns, tighter financial conditions and Bank Negara Malaysia still catching up on the rate hike cycle.
Meanwhile, in a note, MIDF Research said the ringgit remains undervalued based on the real effective exchange rate, adding that it could appreciate to RM4.25 per dollar by end-2022.
“With the US Federal Reserve expected to slow down the pace of its policy tightening towards the end of year, we foresee less support for the dollar to strengthen further.
“In other words, movement in the financial markets would pose less drag on emerging market currencies,” it added.
In the meantime, the local currency was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The ringgit improved vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.2957/3.2986 from 3.2976/3.3022 yesterday and went up against the euro to 4.5482/4.5517 from 4.5610/4.5677 at yesterday’s closing.
It also strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.2303/3.2333 from 3.2352/3.2383 and rose versus the British pound to 5.3773/5.3816 from 5.3969/5.4005 previously.
