Kuala Lumpur: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar and other major currencies, boosted by the announcement by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) on the overnight policy rate (OPR).
At 8am, the ringgit was at 4.4335/4500 against the US dollar, compared with yesterday’s close at 4.4340/4400.
The central bank kept the OPR at 3.0 per cent during its meeting yesterday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the current monetary policy stance is supportive of the country’s growth.
“Judging by BNM’s statement, it appears that the central bank is in no rush to make any adjustments to the OPR compared to its counterparts in the Asian region, where monetary easing has already begun,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Afzanizam also said Malaysia’s inflation rate has declined from a high of 2.0 percent in July 2024 to 1.7 percent in December 2024, suggesting that monetary policy has been effective in controlling the country’s inflation.
On that note, he estimates that BNM is likely to keep the OPR stable throughout 2025 and this is expected to improve the value of the ringgit.
“Thus, the ringgit should remain well supported in the near term, but intermittently, given the huge appreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar since January 13, 2025, where the ringgit has appreciated by 1.7 per cent,” he said. There has been growth, there will be some profit-seeking activities.” noted.
Meanwhile, the US dollar index (DXY) rose to 108.219 points from 108.062 points earlier as the market focuses on US President Donald Trump’s policy announcement.
“The most recent project was the announcement of Stargate which is a private sector-led project focused on investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
“Technology-related stocks, as reflected by the Nasdaq, jumped 1.3 percent last night to 20,009.3 points, while 10-year US Treasury yields rose three basis points to 4.60 percent,” he said.
Initially, the ringgit traded higher against major currencies.
It rose to 4.6144/6316 against the euro from Wednesday’s close of 4.6313/6376, against the British pound to 5.4590/4793 from 5.4822/4896, and against the Japanese yen to 2.8336/8445 from 2.8480/8522. Done.
The local note traded mixed against ASEAN currencies.
It strengthened against the Thai baht to 13.0689/1249 from 13.1106/1345, and against the Singapore dollar to 3.2710/2836 from 3.2781/2828.
However, the local note traded at 272.3/273.4 against the Indonesian rupiah compared with 272.3/272.8 and at 7.58/7.61 against the Philippine peso at 7.58/7.59 on Wednesday.
