Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Ringgit Vs USD – The ringgit started lower against the US dollar on Friday, with investors preferring the safe-haven currency given the cautious global economic outlook, an economist said.
The Malaysian currency declined to 4.7145/7190 against the US dollar (Ringgit Vs USD) from Thursday’s close of 4.7080/7110.
Ringgit Vs USD
According to Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, the chief economist at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, investors continued to hold on to the greenback as the US dollar index (DXY) remained above 105 points as other major central banks began to cut their policy rates, while the US Federal Reserve (Fed) seemed reluctant to do the same.
“The Fed still feels the need to keep the benchmark rates higher to bring the inflation rate towards the 2.0 per cent target. As such, today’s dynamic is likely to be fairly stable against the US dollar,” he told Bernama.
However, Afzanizam noted that the ringgit has recently performed positively against other regional currencies.
The latest export figure of 7.3% growth in May, well above the consensus estimate, suggests Malaysia will benefit from the rebound in external demand.
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“It also raised the hope that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 4.0 to 5.0 per cent in 2024 is within reach,” he added.
Ringgit Vs Other Major Currencies
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
Against the Japanese yen, it rose to 2.9634/9664 (Thursday’s closing price: 2.9711/9732), against the British pound, it was up from 5.9815/9853 to 5.9667/9724 and against the euro from 5.0498/0530 previously to 5.0478/0526.
However, the RM traded lower against its ASEAN counterparts.
It dropped against the Thai baht from 12.8008/8138 to 12.8300/8461 and fell against the Indonesian rupiah from 286.5/286.8 to 286.9/287.3.
The local currency was slightly up against the Singapore dollar from 3.4807/4832 on Thursday to 3.4804/4839 and was almost unchanged against the Philippine peso at 8.01/8.03.
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