Ringgit slips further against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit slipped further against the US dollar at the close today, in line with most regional currencies.

The US dollar strengthened due to uncertainties surrounding the Federal Reserve’s decision regarding inflation rates. Additionally, the release of US inflation data this week also contributed to the dollar’s rise.

Asian currencies were also weighed down by sentiment brought about by disappointing Chinese trade figures, an analyst said.

At 6 pm, the local note fell to 4.5815/5845 against the US dollar compared with 4.5575/5625 at Monday’s close.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said China’s trade performance continues to deteriorate with total exports and imports falling further to 14.5 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively in July (June: -12.4 per cent, -6.8 per cent respectively).

“This is suggesting that the second-largest economy is facing a challenging outlook this year. Consequently, the yuan has weakened against the US dollar by 0.018 per cent to 7.2111 yuan.

“Following this, China’s monetary policy is likely to remain accommodative to provide support to the overall economy. Given the close correlation between the yuan and ringgit at 68 per cent, the ringgit has also weakened further,” he told BK.

The ringgit was also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

It dropped against the Japanese yen to 3.2027/2050 from 3.2018/2056 on Monday, weakened versus the euro to 5.0264/0297 from 4.9978/0032 and declined vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.8332/8370 from 5.7971/8035 previously.

At the same time, the local unit traded lower against other Asean currencies.

The ringgit went down versus the Singapore dollar to 3.4030/4055 from 3.3968/4008 from Monday’s close and depreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 301.0/301.3 from 300.0/300.6 yesterday.

It eased vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 8.14/8.15 from 8.13/8.14 on Monday and fell against the Thai baht at 13.1050/1184 from 13.0801/0997 previously. – BK