KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — The ringgit continued to be under pressure from a stronger US dollar in tandem with other Asian currencies.
At 6pm today, the local note weakened to 4.2295/2300 versus the greenback from 4.2095/2135 at yesterday’s close.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said talks of possible removal of monetary accommodation by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is gaining further steam.
“This will not bode well for emerging currencies in the near term especially when economic data points that the US is likely to outperform while Fed officials continue to signal the need to accelerate the tapering of asset purchases,” he told Bernama.
As for the ringgit, he said it could be nearing the immediate resistant level of RM4.245.
“Therefore, ringgit would linger around RM4.22 to RM4.23 in the immediate term,” he noted.
The local note was also traded weaker against a basket of major currencies.
It eased versus the British pound to 5.6392/6399 from 5.6235/6288 at Wednesday’s close and depreciated vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.6667/6674 from 3.6601/6639.
The ringgit fell against the Singapore dollar 3.0933/0941 from 3.0791/0825 yesterday and slipped against the euro to 4.7463/7469 from 4.7180/7225 previously.
— Bernama
