KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed higher against the US dollar as investors await more clues on the pace of inflation in the United States (US) from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) tomorrow.
At 6 pm, the local note stood at 4.6570/6610 against the greenback compared with 4.6685/6725 at Monday’s close.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said market participants would synthesise their views on the US rates based on the highly anticipated US CPI print.
"The US CPI print on Wednesday is the focus of the week as consensus estimates showed that inflation would moderate in June,” he told Bernama.
He said the consensus view is that US headline and core CPI would record slower increases in June at 3.1 per cent (May: 4.0 per cent) and 5.0 per cent (May: 5.3 per cent), respectively.
At home, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies at today’s close.
It declined vis-a-vis the euro to 5.1264/1308 from 5.1176/1220 at yesterday’s close, slipped against the Japanese yen to 3.3162/3193 from 3.2761/2792 and weakened against the British pound to 6.0136/0187 from 5.9785/9836.
The local note also traded lower against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit was down versus the Singapore dollar at 3.4723/4755 from Monday’s close of 3.4612/4644 and slid against the Thai baht to 13.3780/3956 from 13.2790/2961.
The ringgit fell against the Indonesian rupiah to 307.2/307.7 from 306.9/307.4 and eased against the Philippine peso at 8.42/8.43 from 8.38/8.39. - Bernama
