• Dollar started the week on strong footing

• MYR to fluctuate in the range of 4.1525 and 4.1660 against US dollar

Global Highlights

The dollar index surged by 0.29% to 95.407, hitting its highest since July 2020 as investors and traders wait for retails data later today.

Equities were mixed when the Dow Jones fell 0.04% to 36,087 while the S&P500 remained flatline at 4,683. The UST10-year yield rose 5.3bps to 1.615% amidst worrying inflation. Gold took a breather from its rally as it declined 0.11% at US$1,863/oz.

The euro dropped 0.67% to 1.137, lowest since July 2020. ECB’s President pushed back the calls on tighter monetary policy. She also maintained the “transitory” narrative and inflation will stay longer and higher before it will fade next year. On the data front, the Eurozone trade surplus widened to €7.3bn in September, compared to €3.5bn in August and above market expectations of €6.5bn.

Conversely, the British pound was relatively unchanged as it was closed at 1.342 ahead of UK’s busy data week.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.20% to close at 114.12 following the weaker-than-expected GDP data. Report showed the Japanese economy contracted 0.8% q/q for 3Q 2021, faster than -0.2% market forecast and way below than the 0.4% growth during 2Q 2021. The drag can be attributed to the resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

In the meantime, the Chinese yuan depreciated marginally by 0.05% to 114.12 despite the positive retails and industrial output data. The former recorded a 4.9% y/y growth (cons.: +3.5%) for the month of October while the latter logged a healthy increase of 3.5% y/y (cons.: +3%).

Crude oil was mixed when the Brent fell 0.15% to US$82.1 per barrel while the WTI added 0.11% to US$80.9 per barrel.

Malaysia Highlights:

Ringgit strengthened 0.10% to close at 4.162, and traded with high of 4.1655 and low of 4.1580.

The local bourse’s FBM KLCI trimmed Friday’s gains as it fell 0.58% to close at 1,522. Detailed transactions showed that both the retailers and foreign investors were the net buyers with RM58.2mil and RM63.8mil, respectively, while being offset by local institutions net selling position of RM122mil.

The IRS yield curve was mixed when (5Y) +2.0bps to 2.955%, (7Y) -2.5bps to 3.187%, (10Y) -1.0bps to 3.370% but the (3Y) remained unchanged at 2.745%.

Against major currencies, the ringgit was mixed. It depreciated against GBP by 0.04% to 5.585, AUD by 0.83% to 3.063 but appreciated against EUR by 0.03% to 4.764, JPY by 0.20% to 3.649, and against CNY by 0.12% to 1.534. Regionally, the ringgit was also mixed. It strengthened vs. PHP by 0.66% to 12.055, vs. VND by 0.09% to 5,443 but weakened vs. SGD by 0.07% to 3.081, vs. THB by 0.12% to 7.866, and vs. IDR by 0.03% to 3,413.

MYR Outlook For The Day

We expect the MYR to trade between our support level of 4.1513 and 4.1525 while our resistance is pinned at 4.1660 and 4.1735.

Source: AmInvest Research - 16 Nov 2021