KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The ringgit began the month of August on the back foot, breaching the 4.15 mark against the US dollar for the first time since June this year.
At 6pm, the local unit lost 110 basis points to end at 4.1550/1600 against the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.1440/1470.
FXTM market analyst Han Tan said the weaker ringgit was dampened by the firmer US dollar, fuelled by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s convoluted policy guidance, following the first US interest rate cut of 25 basis-point since 2008.
“Risk sentiment soured after US President Donald Trump threatened more tariffs on Chinese goods that could choke global trade further,” he told Bernama in an email today.
In the face of such strong external headwinds, Tan opined that the downcast readings on Malaysia’s June external trade figures offered scant support for the ringgit.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry, in a statement today, said Malaysia’s exports down 3.1 per cent to RM76.17 billion in June 2019, with imports 9.2 per cent lower at RM65.91 billion, bringing the total trade to RM142.1 billion, a six per cent decrease compared with that of June 2018.
At the closing bell, the ringgit also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It slid against the Singapore dollar to 3.0168/0215 from 3.0134/0167 on Thursday and weakened against the yen to 3.8864/8922 from 3.7984/8021.
Vis-a-vis the pound, the local unit fell to 5.0379/0457 from 5.0126/0179 and it depreciated against the euro to 4.6104/6176 from 4.5741/5779 yesterday. — Bernama
