KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — The ringgit reversed yesterday’s gains to end lower against the US dollar today as the high number of daily Covid-19 cases continued to weigh on sentiment, a dealer said.
Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 cases reportedly surged on Friday to hit a record high of 15,573 new cases, bringing the cumulative total to 980,491 cases.
At 6 pm, the local note depreciated by 50 basis points to 4.2255/2275 versus the greenback from 4.2205/2250 at yesterday’s close.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the ringgit was also affected by the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for June 2021, which increased slower than in May 2021, indicating that inflationary pressures are transitory.
Earlier today, the Department of Statistics announced that Malaysia’s CPI rose by 3.4 per cent year-on-year to 123.2 in June 2021 versus 119.1 in the same month last year.
“As CPI for June increased by 3.4 per cent, slower than the 4.4 per cent rise in May, weaker inflation growth means that the economy is not expanding, therefore, will take a longer time to recover,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, at the close, the local note was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The ringgit strengthened against the euro to 4.9726/9749 from Thursday’s close of 4.9781/9834 and appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.8254/8275 from 3.8281/8325 previously.
However, the local unit declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.1070/1089 from 3.1026/1064 and weakened against the British pound to 5.8054/8082 from 5.8028/8090 yesterday.
— Bernama
