KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit finished trading on a slightly better footing against the US dollar today on renewed demand for the currency, but arguably the slide in near month oil contracts would likely provide poor optics, an analyst said.
At 6 pm, the local unit rose to 4.3530/3630 versus the greenback from 4.3600/3680 recorded at Friday’s close.
AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes said the front end oil market capitulation is factored into currency markets which are pricing in an oil price bounce in 6-8 weeks.
“In the meantime, currency traders are living life vicariously through the lens of the ‘risk-on’ narrative,” he said.
At the close, the local unit was however traded lower against other major currencies.
It eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0672/0754 from 3.0594/0657 at Friday’s close and weakened against yen to 4.0610/0715 from 4.0494/0576.
Vis-a-vis the pound, the ringgit slid to 5.4121/4254 from 5.3741/3853 while against the euro, it fell to 4.7221/7347 from 4.6927/7030. – April 27, 2020, Bernama
