KUALA LUMPUR, August 1 — The ringgit retreated to close lower against the greenback today, along with other emerging currencies, due to concerns over China’s weak economic data, an analyst said.
At 6pm, the local note weakened to 4.5175/5200 against the US dollar compared with 4.5050/5090 at Monday’s close.
A dealer said that Chinese manufacturing data activity unexpectedly shrank in July, highlighting the need for more stimulus measures from Beijing as the country’s post-pandemic recovery continued to falter.
“The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reading of 49.2 for July was lower than the forecast of 50.3 and the prior month’s reading of 50.5. A reading below 50 entails contraction,” he added.
However, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It dropped against the Japanese yen to 3.1666/1686 from 3.1658/1689 yesterday but firmed versus the euro to 4.9584/9612 from 4.9690/9734 and improved vis-à-vis the British pound to 5.7892/7924 from 5.7916/7968 previously.
At the same time, the local unit traded mostly lower against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit rose versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3872/3893 from 3.3877/3910 at the close on Monday but went down vis-à-vis the Philippine peso to 8.24/8.25 from 8.20/8.22 previously.
It depreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 298.8/299.1 from 298.6/299.1 on Monday and was lower against the Thai baht at 13.1852/1982 from 13.1594/1765 previously.
— Bernama
