KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — The ringgit closed lower against the US dollar today on lack of demand as investors stayed on the sidelines to watch the global economic growth development, said a dealer.
At 6pm, the local unit was traded at 4.0800/0850 against the greenback from 4.0760/0800 on Thursday.
Oanda Asia Pacific senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley the foreign currency trading as a whole was relatively quiet today as investors took a wait-and-see attitude, while awaiting further developments from the US-China trade negotiation as the week draws to a close.
“Moving forward, developments from the trade talks in Beijing today and Washington next week have the potential to cause sharp gains in currencies and volatility, regardless of whether the news is good or bad,” he told Bernama.
On the local front, BNM said that domestic financial markets improved amid positive investor sentiments as the ringgit appreciated by 0.5 per cent against the US dollar in February, supported by non-resident portfolio inflows to the bond market.
“This was in line with the regional trend and driven by improved global investor risk appetite,” BNM said in its “Monthly Highlights - February 2019” today.
On another note, it was reported that Standard Chartered Bank, in its research note today, said that due to the slower economic growth forecast, BNM is expected to cut the overnight policy rate by 25 basis points in May this year.
It previously expected BNM to keep rates on hold for 2019 on its view of steady economic growth versus that of 2018 and the central bank’s comfort with domestic growth.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.0086/0128 from Thursday’s close of 3.0055/0100, but rose against the British pound to 5.3122/3203 from 5.3542/3607.
The ringgit strengthened against the Japanese yen to 3.6820/6872 from 3.6937/6983 and improved versus the euro to 4.5737/5809 from 4.5871/5937. — Bernama
