KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — The ringgit ended lower today, weighed down by US’ jobs report last Friday which set aside recessionary fears thus pushing the dollar higher.
At 6pm, the local unit was traded easier at 4.0950/0000 against the greenback from 4.0870/0900 at Friday’s close.
SPI Asset Management head of trading and market strategy Stephen Innes said the other factor that boosted the dollar was the constructive trade negotiation between Washington and Beijing.
“For ringgit, much of the current debate is centreing around the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), but some factors that were contributing to some elements of dovish bias are gradually being alleviated,” he said in a statement.
However, some negatives do linger concerning the tepid domestic inflation prints that suggest BNM has room to slightly tweak monetary policy.
Despite this, Innes opined that the local currency should benefit from US-China trade agreement and keep the ringgit in check over the short term.
Overall, the ringgit traded easier against a basket of major currencies.
It fell against the British pound to 5.3485/3562 from last Friday’s 5.3458/3509 and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.6750/6804 from 3.6583/6613.
It depreciated against the euro to 4.6024/6084 from 4.5889/5927 and declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.0197/0245 from 3.0182/0207 previously. — Bernama
