MALAYSIA: From having been in a free-fall last year, the Malaysian ringgit has seen a substantial rebound and is currently the best-performing currency in Asia.
Both the ringgit and the Singapore dollar are doing well against the US dollar. Semafor, a US-based website, noted that both countries’ currencies are at 18-month highs against the greenback.
Semafor added, “The Malaysian ringgit stood as the best-performing Asian currency Tuesday (Aug 21), rising 5.3 per cent over the last 12 months to 4.361 per dollar, its highest since February 2023, Nikkei reported. The Singapore dollar, meanwhile, rebounded to 1.3066 per US dollar.”
Read also: Malaysian ringgit hits 16-month high amid strong economic performance
Closer to home, The Malay Mail also noted the ringgit’s rise. On Monday (Aug 19), the Malaysian daily noted that while Asian currencies have risen to their highest levels in seven months, the ringgit has improved the most.
Aside from the ringgit and the Singapore dollar, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand currencies have also seen improvements. The South Korean won saw a rise of 1.4 per cent, the Japanese yen went up by 0.5 per cent, and the Philippine peso has gone up by 1 per cent.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, the peaceful transfer of power has boosted the baht, which has seen its highest rate against the US dollar since January.
This week, all eyes are on Jerome Powell, who chairs the Federal Reserve, the United States’ central bank. Mr Powell is set to speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium, where he is expected to lay out the strategy for US interest rates for the rest of 2024, and which will affect its monetary policy stance for next year.
After a worrying downward spiral since mid-2023, the Malaysian ringgit rallied earlier this month, hitting a 16-month high on Aug 7.
In May this year, the currency reached a 26-year low of US$1 to RM4.78. By early August, however, it had climbed back to US$1 to RM4.42 as Malaysia’s economic performance saw an improvement.
“Malaysia’s domestic policy and new foreign investment are helping the ringgit, but it is highly correlated with the Chinese yuan.
The ringgit is outperforming its Asian peers ‘due to the unwinding of long US dollar-Chinese yuan positions,’ said one trade strategist, referring to positions betting on the weakness of the Chinese currency,” Semafor reported. /TISG
Read also: Malaysia’s ringgit is growing stronger, but Singaporeans continue to snap up homes in Johor