KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar today ahead of the release of February’s consumer price index data.
At 9.05am, the ringgit eased to 4.7390/7430 against the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.7340/7390.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said that consensus estimated Malaysia’s inflation rate to be sustained at 1.5% in February.
Last week, Bank Negara Malaysia revised its inflation rate forecast to 2.0-3.5% for 2024, from the previous forecast of 2.1-3.6%.
Despite the revision, Afzanizam said inflation remained high, giving more reasons for the overnight policy rate to stay unchanged at 3.00%.
He said that based on the Fibonacci retracement, the ringgit’s prevailing support and resistance levels stood at RM4.7341 and RM4.47481, respectively.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
It appreciated against the euro to 5.1195/1239 from 5.1203/1257 at Friday’s close but slipped against the British pound to 5.9692/9743 from 5.9582/9645 last week, and depreciated vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1332/1361 from 3.1223/1258 previously.
The ringgit was also traded easier against other Asean currencies, except versus the Philippine peso, where it rose to 8.40/8.41 from 8.41/8.42 last Friday.
It slipped versus the Thai baht to 13.0336/0503 compared with 13.0116/0318 on Friday, went down vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 300.2/300.6 from 299.8/300.4 and eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.5109/5141 from 3.5106/5145 previously.
Bursa mixed on Wall Street’s cue
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia opened mixed today, taking its cue from Wall Street’s mixed performance last Friday due to varied sentiments as the US Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50% for the fifth straight meeting.
At 9.11am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 3.61 points to 1,538.78 from Friday’s close of 1,542.39. The benchmark index opened 2.16 lower at 1,540.23.
On the broader market, gainers led decliners 233 to 192, while 333 counters were unchanged, 1,577 untraded and 37 suspended.
Turnover amounted to 303.92 million units worth RM119.48 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said that Wall Street closed mixed last Friday due to negative sentiments after the Fed kept the federal funds rate unchanged.
“The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 305 points, but the Nasdaq was up 27 points with the US Treasury 10-year yield easing to 4.202%.
“Due to the uncertainty on Wall Street, we believe trading on the local bourse would be stuck in a tight range of between 1,535 and 1,545 today,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank declined 2.0 sen to RM9.57 and Tenaga Nasional weakened 8.0 sen to RM11.48, while CIMB Group and Petronas Chemical added 3.0 sen each to RM6.58 and RM6.82, respectively, and Public Bank was flat at RM4.24.
For the actives, Velestro Energy, Prolintas Infra and Advance Information added 1.5 sen each to 30 sen, 96.5 sen and 9.5 sen, respectively, and Kinergy Advancement added half-a-sen to 36.5 sen, while Pelikan International slid 4.0 sen to 2.25 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index reduced by 10.36 points to 11,544.74 and the FBMT 100 Index was 14.73 points lower at 11,189.45, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined by 19.14 points to 11,632.84.
The FBM 70 Index jumped 26.55 points to 15,997.25, and the FBM ACE Index perked 9.21 points to 4,865.55.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index inched up 0.10 of-a-point to 178.83, the energy index expanded 3.77 points to 938.11, and the financial services index gained 11.63 points to 17,200.51, while the plantation index lost 24.04 points to 7,312.63. – March 25, 2024