KUALA LUMPUR: Bargain hunters gave Bursa Malaysia a boost at the opening of trade this morning, but the hawkish US Federal Reserve stance on interest rates wiped out the gains the ringgit chalked up yesterday.
By 9.38am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) had gained 5.55 points over yesterday’s closing of 1,469.55.
It opened the day at 1,472.46, a 2.91 points gain from yesterday.
On the other hand, the ringgit reacted to the Fed’s decision to continue to focus on rate hikes this year by rolling back its gains against the US dollar from yesterday.
At 9am, the local currency depreciated to 4.4015/4.4055 versus the greenback from yesterday’s closing of 4.3960/4.4010.