KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit continued its downtrend against the greenback today as more investors shifted towards the safe currency due to rising concerns over the global economic outlook.
Most Asian currencies also closed weaker against the US dollar today following Fitch Ratings’ downgrade of US sovereign credit, which spurred risk-off and safe-haven bids, said a dealer.
Fitch said that tax cuts and new spending initiatives, coupled with multiple economic shocks, have swelled US budget deficits.
It added that medium-term challenges related to rising entitlement costs in the country also remain largely unaddressed.
At 6pm, the local note weakened to 4.5400/4.5450 against the US dollar compared with 4.5175/4.5200 at yesterday’s close.
The ringgit also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It dropped against the Japanese yen to 3.1824/3.1861 from 3.1666/3.1686 yesterday, weakened versus the euro to 4.9831/4.9886 from 4.9584/4.9612 and declined vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.7994/5.8085 from 5.7892/5.7924 previously.
At the same time, the local unit traded mostly lower against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit went down versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3944/3.3984 from 3.3872/3.3893 at the close on Tuesday but rose vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 8.22/8.24 from 8.24/8.25 previously.
It depreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 299.1/299.6 from 298.8/299.1 yesterday and was lower against the Thai baht at 13.2504/2716 from 13.1852/1982 previously. - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.