KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — The ringgit fell as much as 0.32 per cent to its lowest level in more than two months against the US dollar, as caution swept through Asia following the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) downward revision of the global growth forecast.
At 6pm, the ringgit finished at 4.1050/1100 against the US dollar from 4.0920/0960 at yesterday’s close.
It was the local unit’s weakest performance since January 30, 2019 when it ended at 4.1050/1100 versus the greenback.
Despite the downward revision on global growth forecast, FXTM global head of currency strategy and market research, Jameel Ahmad, however, noted that the IMF had revised Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2019 upwards by 0.1 percentage point, compared with its October forecasts.
“The Malaysian economy is expected to expand 4.7 per cent this year, which would be a repeat of 2018’s performance, and it is still higher than the global growth forecast of 3.3 per cent for 2019.
“This speaks to the resilience of Malaysia’s domestic economic fundamentals in the face of a broader slowdown for the global economy,” he told Bernama in an email today.
Jameel said FXTM expected the ringgit to remain supported, even as it adhered to the broader performance by Asian currencies against the greenback.
Yesterday, the IMF trimmed global GDP growth in 2019 to 3.3 per cent from the previous forecast of 3.5 per cent made in January this year.
Overall, the ringgit traded easier against a basket of major currencies.
It slipped further against the British pound to 5.3673/3755 from 5.3556/3625 and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.6939/6987 from 3.6772/6818 yesterday.
It depreciated against the euro to 4.6292/6361 against yesterday’s close of 4.6125/6191 and weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0347/0393 from 3.0246/0280 yesterday. — Bernama
