20 minutes
KUALA LUMPUR: Oil price rally and US dollar weakness supported the ringgit to close higher for the second consecutive day.
At the close, the local note stood at 4.0430/0470 against the greenback from 4.0480/0520, yesterday.
Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said policy mixes between larger group of oil exporting countries, OPEC+ current supply discipline coalescing with Joe Biden’s administration’s overarching focus on public health and economic responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, suggest oil prices could go much higher.
“I expect oil to stabilise near the current level as the coronavirus vaccine rollout progresses. We should gradually move closer to a typical demand environment, oil prices will then soar,” he said.
International benchmark Brent crude was up 0.73 per cent and traded at US$56.31 per barrel.
The ringgit weakened further against other major currencies, except for euro.
It retreated further against the Singapore dollar to 3.0490/0530 from 3.0443/0482 at Tuesday’s close and depreciated further vis-a-vis the pound to 5.5349/5412 from 5.5081/5140 previously, while against the yen, it retreated further to 3.8950/8996 from 3.8912/8962 at yesterday’s closing.
However, the local note inched up against the euro to 4.9025/9082 from 4.9058/9114. — Bernama
