KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit continued to close lower against the US dollar on Wednesday, with uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate direction weighing on the local currency.
At 6 pm, the local note weakened to 4.2120/2170 against the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.1985/2000.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said mixed signals from Fed officials continued to lend support to the US dollar. "The US dollar-ringgit surpassed the RM4.20 level as the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose 0.16 per cent to 97.419 points,” he told Bernama, adding that this weighed on the ringgit and other regional currencies.
At the close, the ringgit was mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except the Japanese yen.
It strengthened to 2.8400/8436 against the Japanese yen from 2.8441/8453 at Tuesday’s close, but eased to 5.6761/6828 versus the British pound from 5.6701/6721 and slipped to 4.9567/9626 against the euro from 4.9546/9564 previously.
The local note was mixed against ASEAN currencies.
It appreciated to 13.1572/1781 against the Thai baht from 13.1900/2001, but weakened to 3.2743/2784 versus the Singapore dollar from 3.2724/2738, and declined to 252.4/252.8 against the Indonesian rupiah from 251.5/251.8.
It was flat against the Philippine peso at 7.33/7.34 compared with 7.33/7.33 yesterday. - Bernama
