KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (July 10): The ringgit is expected to trade between 4.17 and 4.19 against the US dollar next week, pressured down by the country’s mounting Covid-19 instances and a dearth of positive triggers. On Friday, Malaysia had the most new daily Covid-19 instances, with 9,180, bringing the total number of cases to 817,838.
On May 29, the previous high number of new day cases was 9,020.
However, according to Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd analyst Adam Mohamed Rahim, the local currency is likely to benefit from the strengthening of Brent crude oil prices as a result of lower crude stockpiles, reinforcing perceptions that oil demand is heating up as the US summer driving season begins.
“With Asia experiencing its current wave of infections,” he told Bernama, “this could soften the pressure coming from uncertainty relating to the pandemic.”
Brent crude oil was trading above US$74 per barrel at the time of publication.
The ringgit lost ground against the US dollar this week, falling to 4.1895/1940 from 4.1600/1650 the week before.
In the meantime, the ringgit has been losing ground against other major currencies.
The local currency decreased to 3.0953/0991 against the Singapore dollar from 3.0778/0818 the week before, to 5.7798/7860 against the British pound from 5.7188/7256, and to 4.9667/9720 against the euro from 4.9171/9230 the week before.
It also fell to 3.8076/8120 against the Japanese yen, down from 3.7303/7351 before./n
