KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar today as the greenback strengthened further amid the United States’ positive economic data, according to an analyst.
At 6 pm, the local note depreciated to 4.1835/1850 versus the US dollar from 4.1805/1810 at last Friday’s close.
The analyst said the US economy added more jobs than expected in January, indicating that hiring activities remained strong despite the spread of the Omicron variant.
Non-farm payrolls released on Friday rose by 467,000 in January compared to the consensus forecast of 125,000.
“The better-than-expected January’s US job creation reinforced the view of a strong labour market and cemented expectations to the already rising speculation of the Federal Reserve’s March rate hike to tackle rising inflation figures. Rising interest rates is supportive of the US dollar, he told Bernama.
Hong Leong Bank Bhd in a note said traders are now eyeing Malaysia’s fourth quarter (4Q) 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) results due on Friday for market direction.
“We are neutral to slightly bearish on the US dollar against the ringgit in the week ahead and are eyeing a weekly range of 4.17 to 4.20.
“The stronger than expected US job data is supportive of the US dollar but any bigger than expected rebound in Malaysia’s 4Q GDP will be positive for the ringgit,” it added.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of other major currencies.
It slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.1102/1115 from last Friday’s close of 3.1096/1102 and was almost flat vis-a-vis the Japanese yen at 3.6369/6385 from 3.6365/6372.
The domestic unit rose against the British pound to 5.6536/6556 from 5.6721/6728 on Friday and appreciated versus the euro to 4.7780/7797 compared with 4.7929/7935 previously.
— Bernama
