KUALA LUMPUR: United States Federal Reserve (US Fed) chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on combating US inflation and hints at raising interest rates has caused the ringgit to close lower against the US dollar today, marking its fourth consecutive day of decline.
At 6 pm, the local note ended at 4.6525/6580 against the greenback compared with 4.6430/6470 on Wednesday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, said emerging currencies, including the ringgit, are being negatively affected as interest rates in the developed countries have been rising at a rapid pace after more than a decade of monetary stimulus.
"At the moment, the ringgit is at an oversold position against the US dollar from a technical standpoint.
"Perhaps, further downside risks could be somewhat limited. The current resistance and support level for the US dollar-ringgit is located at RM4.7495 and RM4.6257,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit depreciated against a basket of major currencies.
At the close, the local note reversed yesterday’s gains versus the British pound to 5.9496/9567 from 5.8975/9026, fell against the Japanese yen to 3.2776/2817 from 3.2716/2746 and eased vis-a-vis the euro to 5.1182/1243 from 5.0678/0722 on Wednesday.
The local note weakened against other Asean currencies except for the Thai baht.
The ringgit strengthened further versus the Thai baht to 13.2720/2934 from 13.3194/3381 yesterday, went down against the Singapore dollar to 3.4697/4740 from 3.4546/4578 previously, fell vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 311.3/311.9 from 310.4/310.9, and depreciated against the Philippine peso to 8.36/8.38 from 8.34/8.35 yesterday. - Bernama
