KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar on Friday due to persistent fears over the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus in Asia, said economists.
At 6pm, the local note depreciated to 4.1600/1650 from Thursday’s close of 4.1575/1600.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the ringgit’s performance was affected by the government’s move to impose the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) in most parts of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, as well as the latest update on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ meeting.
“The EMCO imposed stricter guidelines with only factories producing staple food allowed to operate throughout the period.
“Meanwhile, the OPEC meeting on Thursday had to be extended as the United Arab Emirates was unwilling to go along with a reported preliminary deal for a 500,000 barrel per day hike in production,” he told Bernama.
This caused some uncertainty in the oil market, which had also adversely impacted the ringgit given the link between the Brent oil price to the ringgit, he said.
At the time of writing, Brent crude declined by 0.09 per cent to US$75.77 per barrel.
At the close, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies, except against the yen.
The local note improved versus the British pound to 5.7188/7256 from 5.7257/7292 at Thursday’s close and appreciated against the euro to 4.9171/9230 from 4.9271/9300 previously.
It had also strengthened versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0778/0818 from 3.0869/0890 yesterday, but fell vis-a-vis the yen to 3.7303/7351 from 3.7280/7303 previously.
— Bernama
