Ringgit strengthens against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit rebounded against the US dollar at the close today as market sentiment recovered after investors priced in Malaysia's trade performance, as well as discounted the US President Donald Trump's plan to tax imports of steel and aluminium.
At 6 pm, the local note was quoted at 3.9020/9050 versus the greenback from Monday's 3.9050/9080.
According to a data released yesterday, Malaysia's total trade in January 2018 surged by 14.9 per cent to RM156.01 billion, compared with the corresponding month of last year.
FXTM Chief Market Strategist, Hussein Sayed, said investors seemed to believe that Trump was using his 'Art of the Deal' skills to get a better trade deals with the rest of the world.
Trump tweeted yesterday that "Tariffs on steel and aluminium will only come off if new and fair The North American Free Trade Agreement agreement was signed.
"This confirms my belief that this mess will likely end up with Mexico, European Union and China taking a less protectionist stance, rather than the US taking a stronger one," he said.
Hussein said there was little action in the currency markets as compared to equities market as investors were holding off from big bets ahead of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday and the release of US jobs report on Friday.
The local note was also traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
It strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 2.9576/9608 from 2.9588/9617 on Monday and rose against the yen to 3.6857/6888 from 3.6983/6022 yesterday.
It declined against the British pound to 5.4039/4084 from 5.3944/3001 yesterday and decreased against the euro to 4.8158/8211 from 4.8110/8162 on Monday. — Bernama