KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — The ringgit continued to close slightly weaker against the US dollar as investors remained on the sidelines today, awaiting the release of the US non-farm payroll reports for more hints on when the US Federal Reserve will begin tapering this year.
At 6pm, the local note fell to 4.1570/1600 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.1535/1550.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said better job reports could indicate that the US economy is recovering, giving strength to the US dollar and subsequently weakening other currencies, including the ringgit.
“This may have offset the positivity from the move by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies to agree to continue increasing oil production in measured steps by boosting output in monthly installments of 400,000 barrels a day through the latter end of 2022,” he told Bernama.
He noted that the organisation also resisted recent US pressure to further increase oil production, which would help to prevent any drastic fall in the price of oil, and that would be positive for the local note.
Meanwhile, the local note was also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
The ringgit fell against the Japanese yen to 3.7801/7832 from 3.7663/7677 at Wednesday’s close, weakened vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9265/9300 from yesterday’s close of 4.9099/9116.
It also depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0930/0955 from 3.0854/0867 and retreated versus the British pound to 5.7333/7375 from 5.7144/7164 previously.
— Bernama
