KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — The ringgit weakened against the US dollar today alongside most Asian currencies, with the greenback holding on to its gains following Friday’s announcement of better-than-expected US retail sales and manufacturing output data for May.
At 6pm, the local currency fell to 4.1770/1800 against its US counterpart from 4.1650/1690 on Friday.
FXTM analyst Han Tan said mixed US economic data may not give the US Federal Reserve (Fed) the all-clear for lowering US interest rates just yet, which allowed dollar bulls to push back and reclaim higher ground in the interim.
“More dovish commentary out of the Fed this week could see the ringgit’s performance against the dollar retrace back to within the 4.16-4.17 range.
“However, should the dollar push higher on signs that the Fed will maintain its ‘patient’ stance on monetary policy, the 4.1825 line could present stronger resistance for the currency pair over the near term,” he told Bernama.
At the close, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local currency was higher at 5.2576/2635 against the pound compared with last Friday’s 5.2691/2759, improved versus the euro to 4.6828/6866 from 4.6940/6989 and strengthened against the yen at 3.8448/8486 from 3.8490/8534.
However, it eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0467/0493 from 3.0457/0491 at Friday’s close. — Bernama
