Ringgit Gains on Strong Malaysian Data While Holding steady against the US dollar

At 6 pm local time the ringgit was quoted at 4.0805/4.0845 per US dollar, a slight move from the previous close. The Department of Statistics Malaysia announced that September inflation eased to 1.8% and that total trade surged 53.7% to RM396.5 billion compared with the same month last year. Afzanizam Rashid, chief economist at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, said the ringgit remained firm despite external headwinds, referencing MSCI’s consideration of downgrading Indonesia’s market, which has weakened the rupiah and pressured the Jakarta Composite Index.

He added that the impact on regional currencies has been limited, keeping the US-ringgit rate in a tight range. The local unit also rose against the Japanese yen, euro, British pound and outperformed neighboring currencies such as the Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso, Singapore dollar and Thai baht.