THE ringgit opened lower against the United States dollar today as investors awaited further rate actions by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), dealers said. 

At 9am, the local note eased to 4.7250/7265 from yesterday’s close of 4.7180/7220. 

The dealers said lack of market-moving catalysts, along with a stronger greenback due to higher US Treasury yields and falling crude oil prices, dragged down the local note’s performance in early trade.

At the time of writing, Brent crude oil fell 0.17% to US$92.25 per barrel. 

However, CGS-CIMB said in a note that the weak ringgit may support Malaysia’s exports, as both tend to have positive correlation.

The brokerage said the performance of Malaysia’s electrical and electronics (E&E) sector had defied downward global trends as shipments continued to outperform global sales last month.

According to the Statistics Department, the country’s exports of E&E products to China grew 36.5% year-on-year last month, in contrast with the moderation in shipments of regional peers. 

“We suspect that part of the strength could be due to attractive costs given ringgit’s weaker performance,” it added.

Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of RM31.71 billion last month, a new record-high for the country, beating the previous high of RM31.5 billion in December last year.

The ringgit also traded higher against a basket of major currencies. 

It rose versus the British pound to 5.2948/2965 from 5.3233/3278 yesterday and increased against the Singapore dollar to 3.3146/3161 from 3.3176/3207 previously.

The local note also improved against the euro to 4.6135/6150 from 4.6326/6365 yesterday and gained versus the Japanese yen to 3.1515/1527 from 3.1611/1642 at yesterday’s close. – Bernama, October 20, 2022.