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KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar for the third day in a row, thanks to firmer crude prices driven by the production decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC +).
At 9:01 am, the local unit was trading 120 basis points higher to 4.0610 / 0670 against the dollar from 4.0730 / 0750 at the close of Thursday.
After a series of meetings during the week, OPEC + agreed on Thursday to increase oil production by 500,000 barrels a day starting in January next year.
According to CNBC, markets reacted positively to the result as they saw that the small increase in supply was not deadly to balances.
At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude was up 0.66 percent to $ 49.03 a barrel. And every $ 1 per barrel increase in oil prices will add around RM300 million to Malaysia’s revenue.
Meanwhile, Axi’s chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said China’s better-than-expected manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 54.9 in November 2020 from 53.6 in October, it also boded well for the ringgit.
“If oil prices stay at the desired base, I would expect the ringgit to stay in a favorable light and be ready to catch up with the yuan even more next week,” he told Bernama.
At the opening bell, the ringgit was mostly trading lower against other major currencies except the Singapore dollar.
It fell against the yen to 3.9120 / 9189 from 3.9058 / 9081 at the close of Thursday, declined against the pound to 5.4645 / 4746 from 5.4586 / 4617 and fell against the euro to 4.9333 / 9422 from 4.9328 / 9360.
Against the Singapore dollar, the ringgit was virtually unchanged at 3.0440 / 0496 from 3.0441 / 0467 at the close of Thursday. – Bernama
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