KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — The ringgit ended lower today as the US dollar extended its rally against a basket of major currencies.
At 6 pm, the local currency was traded at 4.2130/2150 against the greenback from 4.1930/1955 at Wednesday’s close.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit weakened against the US dollar following the release of Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes for December.
“The expectation of higher interest rates has fuelled demand for the US dollar, leading to a higher value in US Dollar Index (DXY) to 96.228 points.
“At the moment, the resistant level of USD/MYR stood at RM4.245 while the support level is at RM4.1862,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Afzanizam said the latest ADP employment print, which measures the private sector employment changes, rose sharply to 807,000 in December against an expectation of 400,000.
“This gives the impression that the December US Nonfarm Payroll would be higher when the data will be announced on Friday night local time.
“As such, we expect the ringgit to remain weak against the greenback tomorrow,” he added.
The ringgit also traded lower against a basket of other major currencies.
It depreciated versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0948/0965 from Wednesday’s close of 3.0924/0939 and decreased against the Japanese yen to 3.6390/6415 from 3.6190/6215 yesterday.
The local currency eased vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.6867/6903 from 5.6785/6814 yesterday and weakened against the euro to 4.7620/7646 from 4.7408/7424 previously.
— Bernama
