Ringgit likely to remain firm next week

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit is likely to remain firm at the 4.40 level against the US dollar next week on the back a retreating greenback and improved commodity prices.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research, Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said US President Donald Trump's remark that he favoured a weaker US dollar had lifted the local note recently.
"Trump's remarks had prompted investors to shift their interest towards emerging market currencies including the ringgit," he told Bernama.
Apart from that, Nazri Khan said the firmer crude oil prices which traded at around US$54 per barrel recently also lent a support to the local note.
"In addition, China's better-than-expected gross domestic product growth, which rose by 6.9% in the first quarter of the year, had indirectly, bolstered the ringgit.
"As China's economy is stronger, Malaysia's exports to the republic is expected to improve," he said.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry announced that bilateral trade between Malaysia and China grew by 28.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM19.79 billion in February 2017, whereby exports jumped 47.6% y-o-y to RM9.57 billion.
For the week just-ended, the ringgit was traded mixed and moved between 4.3960 and 4.4090 against the US dollar.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the ringgit was traded higher at 4.3980/4000 against the greenback from 4.4050/4100 last week.
It ended mixed against other major currencies.
The local note improved against the Singapore dollar to 3.1466/1485 from 3.1521/1572 last week and advanced against the yen to 4.0286/0315 from 4.0450/0503.
It weakened against the British pound to 5.6259/6298 from 5.5107/5187 last Friday and declined against the euro at 4.7076/7111 from 4.6786/6847 last week. — Bernama