KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 ― The ringgit weakened against the US dollar today as news that China's retail sales and industrial production data was less than expected, was bearish for the local market, said Oanda Head of Trading Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes.
At 6pm, the local note traded at 4.1830/1880 against the US dollar from Thursday's 4.1780/1820.
The ringgit was seen tracking the movement of China’s renmimbi for quite some time as the latter was one of Malaysia’s major investors.
“I must admit I'm a bit surprised the ringgit did not trade with a more positive bias as US-China trade tensions have improved while the local unit should find support from a probable US Federal Interest rate pause in 2019.
“The market is indeed caught in the year-end malaise with local investors now fretting over oil markets and the outlook for global growth in 2019,” he told Bernama.
Against major currencies, the ringgit rose to 5.2635/2710 from 5.2902/2957 against the pound yesterday and improved to 4.7239/7299 versus the euro from 4.7533/7587 yesterday.
It strengthened slightly against the Singapore dollar to 3.0393/0434 from 3.0479/0519 on Thursday but slipped against the yen to 3.6842/6895 from 3.6817/6859 yesterday. ― Bernama
