KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The ringgit extended its decline to open slightly lower against the US dollar today, weighed down by a strengthening greenback and higher US Treasury yields.
At 9am, the local note fell 10 basis points (bps) to open at 4.1500/1560 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.1490/1530.
The 4.15-mark is a level last seen on November 3, 2020, when the local note closed at 4.1540/1580 versus the greenback.
“Higher US Treasury yields continue to act like a wrecking ball crashing any semblance of positive ringgit sentiment,” Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes told Bernama.
Innes said despite Malaysia being removed from the FTSE Russell Watch List, the news did little to stem the tide of the ringgit selling.
“This is likely (so) because foreign bond investors have turned into better sellers of bonds than local bond buyers,” he said.
According to the news report, the US 10-year Treasury yields rose to 14-month highs on Tuesday, buoyed by expectations for a swift and strong US economic recovery.
On Monday, the FTSE Russell announced that Malaysia would be removed from the Watch List for potential reclassification of its market accessibility level from “2” to “1” and will retain its membership in the FTSE World Government Bond Index.
At the opening bell, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies, except for the Singapore dollar whereby the local unit depreciated to 3.0809/0865 from 3.0799/0841 at Tuesday’s close.
The local note appreciated against the yen to 3.7489/7553 from 3.7633/7672, rose vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8638/8725 from 4.8697/8760, and gained against the pound to 5.7021/7116 from 5.7094/7158 yesterday.
— Bernama
