Ringgit Flat Against US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 (Bernama) – The ringgit was unchanged against the US dollar despite the gains in the greenback following the US Federal Reserve's hint to further increase its interest rate, a dealer said. As at 9.00 am, the local unit was quoted at 3.9480/9510 against the US dollar from Monday’s close of 3.9480/9530. A dealer said the local note received the support from local buyers post-general election. Echoing this, OANDA Head of Trading Asia-Pacific, Stephen Innes said despite the low political risk premium, investors were not crashing the gates to increase economic risk in the ringgit, instead it was the placid open which caused bearish local note bets along with pre-election hedges to unwind. “The positive ringgit sentiment came on the back of the local supply where Malaysian dealers were comfortable selling dollars using the Bank Negara as a stop-loss order. Even more telling were the local pension funds which were on the bid all day providing strong support levels,” he said. Innes added that at the 3.95-level, the market continued to bake in political premium on the back of the Goods and Services Tax uncertainty and how the debt agencies perceived scrapping the unpopular tax. Against a basket of major currencies, the local note was traded higher. The ringgit rose against the Singapore dollar to 2.9564/9598 from 2.9893/9929 on Monday and increased versus the yen at 3.5966/6003 from 3.6466/6503 yesterday. The local currency appreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.3555/3599 from 5.4053/4113 and strengthened against the euro to 4.7111/7163 from 4.7673/7716. -- BERNAMA