The dollar’s decline lifted the ringgit

RINGGIT started higher today against the weak US dollar after analysts said the US Dollar Index (DXY) corrected itself.

Compared to 4.4765/4820 at Monday’s closing, the local currency climbed to 4.4650/4825 of the US dollar at 8 a.m.

While the 10-year US Treasury yield dropped to 4.41% from 4.44%, the DXY dropped 0.4% overnight to 106.275.

Dr. Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, Chief Economist of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, claimed that technical elements helped DXY attain an overbought condition by correcting itself.

“Accordingly, the ringgit may rise a little today, maybe approaching the immediate support level of RM4.45,” he stated to Bernama.

The ringgit experienced a general decline in value relative to a group of major currencies concurrently.

The value decreased against the euro to 4.7302/7488 from 4.7294/7352 and decreased against the British pound to 5.6607/6829 from 5.6525/6594.

Still, the ringgit rose versus the Japanese yen to 2.8914/8953 from 2.8885/9002.

Comparatively to regional currencies, local currencies experienced erratic swings.

It rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 281.5/282.8 from 282.2/282.7, and it strengthened against the Philippine peso to 7.61/7.64.

However, the ringgit weakened against the Thai baht, falling to 12.8975/961 from 12.8591/8808, and also against the Singapore dollar, falling to 3.3353/3486 from 3.3307/3351.