KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — The ringgit extended its downtrend, closing lower against the US dollar today as demand for the greenback remained firm, an analyst said.
At 6pm, the local note slid by 100 basis points (bps) to 4.1150/1200 against the US dollar from 4.1050/1100 at yesterday’s close.
Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said although the lower performance was driven primarily by higher US yields, at one point the ringgit weakened to the 4.13 level.
“The ringgit rallied towards the close from its weakest point today after traders consider higher US yields and inflation expectations have likely gone a step to far especially as it concerns the repricing of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hike expectations,” he told Bernama.
At 10am today, the local note touched 4.1320/1380 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was also traded lower against other major currencies.
It eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0583/0627 from 3.0434/0478 yesterday and fell against the Japanese yen to 3.7863/7913 from 3.7810/7859.
The ringgit declined versus the British pound to 5.7178/7260 from 5.6772/6850 and depreciated against the euro to 4.8989/8057 from 4.8730/8802 yesterday. — Bernama
