KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — The ringgit ended slightly weaker against the US dollar today as the greenback strengthened amid continuing debate on whether China’s new stimulus package alone would be able to dig the country out of a lockdown-induced economic hole, said an analyst.
At 6pm, the local note stood at 4.3950/3990 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.3930/3960.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said a weaker yuan led to the sharp rise in the US dollar in less than 36 hours.
“The yuan has a magnetic attraction to all Asia foreign exchange pairs and more so the ringgit, as Malaysia has extremely close economic ties with China,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, ActiveTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz noted that the increase in the greenback followed the release of the Malaysian Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April, which was in line with expectations at 2.3 per cent.
“From a technical point of view, the US dollar/ringgit is at an important resistance area on the daily chart,” he said.
The ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note inched down against the Singapore dollar to 3.1987/2018 from Wednesday’s close of 3.1947/1971, decreased versus the British pound to 5.5377/5427 from 5.4908/4946, and depreciated vis-à-vis the Japanese yen to 3.4677/4712 from 3.4563/4590.
However, it rose against the euro to 4.7079/7122 from 4.6895/6927 yesterday.
— Bernama
