- Malaysia Ringgit (MYR) falls after 2-days of gains
- Optimism of economic recovery support the Ringgit
- US Dollar (USD) rises against major peers
- US retail sales jumped in July
The US Dollar Malaysian Ringgit (USD/MYR) exchange rate is rising on Thursday after 2-days of losses. The pair fell 0.7% in the previous session, settling on Wednesday at 4.4195. At 21:00 UTC, USD/JPY trades +0.35% at 4.4350 and is in a range of 4.4195 to 4.4450.
The Malaysian Ringgit is pulling lower after two days of gains although it continues to trade around its strongest level since mid-March. The Ringgit has risen on optimism that foreign capital will flood in amid a recovery in the Malaysian economy.
These latest developments come as the Malaysian central bank, said it is always ready to curb volatility as the currency approaches a key threshold that may warrant a stronger intervention from the central bank.
Bank Negara Malaysia said it is ready to sell U.S. dollars from its reserved tricks to restrict excessive weakness in the Ringgit.
The US Dollar is rising across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades at 103.05 at the time of writing, up 0.47%, snapping a 3-day losing run.
The US dollar pushes higher against its major peers following US retail sales and jobless claims data.
US retail sales jumped by 1% month on month in June well ahead of expectations and the strongest growth seen in a year. The data helped to calm fears of a sharp economic slowdown.
Retail sales increased after falling 0.2% in June and came in well ahead of the 0.3% forecast.
The data supports the view that demand is not collapsing and that consumers continue to spend. Recession fears increased following July’s weaker-than-expected inflation nonfarm payroll jobs data.
Meanwhile, US jobless claims also help to dispel recession fears. Initial applications for US unemployment benefits fell for a second week to the lowest level since early July.
Initial jobless claims fell by 7,000 to 227,000 in the week ending August 10th, below economists’ forecasts of 235k applications.
