KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — The ringgit slipped further against the US dollar on Monday as weak market sentiment continued to weigh on investors’ risk appetite, dealers said.
At 6 pm, the local note stood at 4.2240/2280 versus the greenback compared with 4.2190/2210 at last Friday’s close.
A dealer said the local note was pressured by the severe floods in the Klang Valley and several other locations in the country, which could hamper economic recovery.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd in a note said the ringgit might continue to be weighed by the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish tone and surging Covid-19 cases in Europe due to the fast-moving Omicron variant.
The Federal Open Market Committee’s decision to accelerate the scaling back of asset purchases to US$30 billion a month would put the Fed’s quantitative easing programme on track to conclude by March 2022 — several months ahead of the initial schedule.
The ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of other major currencies.
It rose vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.0873/0906 from 3.0899/0919 on Friday, strengthened against the British pound to 5.5698/5750 from 5.6180/6203 and increased versus the euro to 4.7550/7595 from 4.7805/7828.
The local currency, however, depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.7209/7248 from 3.7139/7160 previously.
— Bernama
