Ringgit closes lower on cautious sentiment

 

KUALA LUMPUR: 

The ringgit continued its downward trend, closing lower against the US dollar today as cautious sentiment over the global economic outlook persisted, said an analyst.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid attributed the ringgit’s depreciation to risk aversion as the US Dollar Index (DXY) had strengthened.

“Traders are favouring safe-haven currencies, particularly the US dollar.

Nevertheless, we are unperturbed by the recent weaknesses as the ringgit appears to have overshot, while dovish signals from Bank of Japan deputy governor Shinichi Uchida have contributed to the US dollar’s appreciation,

 he said.

On the home front, Afzanizam noted that the foreign funds flow report showed foreign investors were net buyers of bonds and equities in July.

This means that foreign funds have turned to Malaysian assets and they might continue to do so in light of better growth prospects for the rest of the year,

 he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the ringgit declined to 4.4950/4.5010 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4725/4.4770.

The local currency traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except versus the Japanese yen where it appreciated to 3.0464/3.0509 from 3.0879/3.0914 at yesterday’s close.

The local note slid against the British pound to 5.7122/5.7199 from 5.6837/5.6894 yesterday and fell vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9054/4.9119 from 4.8799/4.8849 previously.

At the same time, the ringgit also traded lower against its Asean peers.

It slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.3853/3.3901 from 3.3694/3.3730 yesterday and dropped against the Thai baht to 12.5999/12.6230 from 12.5848/12.6024 previously.

The local unit also inched down against the Indonesian rupiah to 280.2/280.8 from 276.6/277.1 yesterday.

It also depreciated against the Philippine peso to 7.81/7.83 from 7.73/7.75 previously. - FMT