Risk assets and oil prices may be hit, taking down currencies of commodity producing countries, especially the Russian ruble, Colombian peso and ringgit, according to Bloomberg.
KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit continued its positive momentum into today in opening higher against the US dollar and following a weakening of the greenback in the face of strengthening of oil prices.
At 9 am, the local note was traded at 4.0930/0960 against the greenback from yesterday's close of 4.0990/0200.
A dealer said the weakening of the US dollar was also due to comments by US President Donald Trump who accused China and Europe of manipulating its currencies and was not keen on the steps taken by the US Federal Reserve in hiking interest rates.
"These comments caused the US dollar to slide across Asia and Europe," he added. At 9 am, the benchmark Brent crude oil was recorded at US$72.30 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the ringgit slipped against a basket of other currencies.
It went down against the British pound to 5.2456/2515 from 5.2225/2276 yesterday and was lower against the euro at 4.7160/7198 from 4.6765/6804.
The local unit also declined against the yen to 3.7253/7291 from 3.7045/7075 and eased against the Singapore dollar to 2.9922/9955 from 2.9885/9913. - Bernama
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
