KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — The ringgit ended lower against the firmer US dollar today, as demand for the greenback spiked following the upbeat United States (US) jobs data for July.
At the closing bell, the local note settled at 4.1930/1980 against the US dollar, compared with 4.1830/1900 at last Friday’s close.
In a note today, Kenanga Research said the ringgit was traded lower on upbeat US jobs data which saw the US economy adding nearly 1.8 million jobs in July, coupled with the extension of the US Covid-19 economic relief.
Nonetheless, the research house said over the past week, the ringgit had appreciated to its strongest level in five months, trading below the 4.20-threshold due to the weaker greenback.
“This was particularly notable in the first half of the week, thanks to the favourable Malaysian Government Securities-Treasury yield divergence and rising crude oil prices amid reports of a drawdown in the US crude oil inventories,” it said.
Moving forward, Kenanga Research said the ringgit might trade slightly lower this week, pressured by an expected plunge in Malaysia’s second quarter of 2020 gross domestic product performance (slated to be announced this Friday), as well as the high-level Sino-US trade talk on Aug 15, 2020.
Technically, the research house said the movement of the currency this week will be heavily influenced by how US dollar- ringgit behave around the 4.177 support level — a breach of which could propel the pair towards the 4.167-level.
“However, possible US dollar’s upside retracement above the resistance 4.210-level may trigger a bullish uptrend towards the 4.231-level and beyond,” it said.
Overall, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies, except versus the Singapore dollar.
It ticked up against the British pound to 5.4752/4822 from 5.4755/4864 last Friday, strengthened against the Japanese yen to 3.9553/9608 from 3.9589/9667 and appreciated against the euro to 4.9301/9377 from 4.9426/9517 previously.
Vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar, the local note, however, weakened to 3.0515/0558 from 3.0499/0562. — Bernama
