KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — The ringgit saw little change against the US dollar at the close as investors remained on the sidelines due to a lack of fresh catalysts.
At 6pm, the local note stood at 4.6745/6795 against the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.6755/6795.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said that the ringgit will likely remain weak against the US dollar as the Federal Reserve will probably keep its hawkish stance on interest rates.
From the technical standpoint, he noted that the local currency is in an oversold condition, suggesting that further downside risks for the ringgit are limited.
“Plus, higher crude oil prices seem to suggest that inflation might take a while to recede towards the two per cent target, which necessitates keeping the benchmark interest rate high.”
At the close, the ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except against the euro, where it increased to 5.0031/0085 from Thursday’s close of 5.0093/0136.
Meanwhile, it fell against the British pound to 5.8352/8414 from 5.8289/8339 and slipped against the Japanese yen to 3.1741/1777 from 3.1707/1736 previously.
At the same time, the local note also mainly traded lower against other Asean currencies.
It depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.4277/4312 from 3.4270/4305 at yesterday’s close and went down versus the Thai baht to 13.1591/1787 from 13.1301/1469 and was lower against the Philippines’ peso at 8.25/8.26 from 8.23/8.24.
The local currency, however, rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 304.9/305.4 from 305.0/305.4.
— Bernama
