Ringgit ends slightly lower against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit retreated from recent gains to close slightly lower against the US dollar on Thursday as concerns over the US consumer price index (CPI) data to be released later shifted investor appetite to safe haven currencies, including the greenback, dealers said.

At 6 pm, the ringgit depreciated to 4.6425/6455 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.6400/6440.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid told BK that the USD/MYR hovered around RM4.64 to RM4.65 today as the market awaited the US CPI data that will be released later tonight.

“The US CPI tonight is quite critical in determining the timing of the US interest rate cut. Should the CPI turn out to be higher than expected, it could result in the US dollar appreciating,” he said.

Another dealer pointed out that Federal Reserve Bank of New York president John Williams on Wednesday said that it is still too early to call for any rate cuts as the central bank still has some distance to go on getting inflation back to its 2.0 per cent target.

Meanwhile, at the close, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

It weakened versus the euro to 5.0896/0929 from 5.0789/0833 yesterday, depreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9141/9179 from 5.9044/9095 on Wednesday but increased against the Japanese yen to 3.1896/1919 from 3.2018/2047 previously.

The ringgit also traded mostly lower against Asean currencies.

It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.4901/4926 from 3.4851/4883 at Wednesday’s close and declined vis-à-vis the Philippine peso to 8.29/8.30 from 8.24/8.25.

The local currency was lower versus the Indonesian rupiah at 298.5/298.8 from 297.9/298.4 previously but gained against the Thai baht to 13.2408/2551 from 13.2598/2777 yesterday. – BK