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KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit has continued to depreciate against the US dollar for the second consecutive day amidst persistent buying support for the safe-haven greenback, an analyst said.
At 9am, the ringgit fell to 4.4400/4440 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4310/4345.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said there has been considerable momentum behind the growing consensus that the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) would hold rates higher for longer in a more robust economic environment.
“The combination of weaker stocks and much higher US yields also will be a problem for the ringgit today, and the local unit should trade weaker in line with the Chinese Yuan,” he said.
He further noted that the local sentiment was dampened by the easing of US recession fears – a development that would presumably have caused the Fed to stop raising rates entirely and switch to a rate-cutting mode.
Meanwhile, the ringgit also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local unit slipped against the Japanese yen to 3.2933/2965 from 3.2910/2938 at yesterday’s close and eased vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3147/3182 from 3.3117/3148.
It also slid versus the euro to 4.7322/7364 from 4.7230/7267 and narrowed against the British pound to 5.3857/3906 from 5.3531/3573 previously.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia opened on a low note this morning, tracking the weaker Wall Street performance overnight.
At 9.20am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slid by 3.84 points to 1,470.17 from yesterday’s close of 1,474.01, after opening 1.52 points easier at 1,472.49.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 361 to 110, while 261 counters were unchanged, 1,491 untraded and 11 others suspended. – Bernama, February 22, 2023