KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — An economist said the ringgit extended its downtrend to end lower against the US dollar today as investors remained cautious amid rising tension in the Gaza Strip.
At 6pm, the local currency fell to 4.7445/7485 against the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.7345/7375.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the US dollar has gained crucial support following higher Treasury yields on the back of positive US retail sales data, which grew 0.7 per cent month-on-month in September.
“The combination of higher US yields and increased tension in the Middle East, after a missile of unknown origin hit a hospital, has influenced the financial markets’ reaction and sealed the gloomy intraday fate for the ringgit,” he told Bernama.
Nevertheless, Innes noted that China’s better-than-expected third-quarter growth has helped to stabilise the local currency from further depreciation.
The ringgit was also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It weakened vis-à-vis the British pound to 5.7869/7917 from 5.7595/7632 at Tuesday’s close, fell against the euro to 5.0140/0182 from 4.9973/5.0004 and was lower against the yen at 3.1685/1714 from 3.1629/1651 at yesterday’s close.
Similarly, the local note traded lower against other Asean currencies.
The ringgit was down against the Thai baht to 13.0738/0914 from 13.0180/0319 at yesterday’s close and eased against the Indonesian rupiah at 301.5/302.0 from 301.2/301.5 previously.
On Tuesday, it slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.4649/4681 from 3.4566/4590 and dropped vis-à-vis the Philippine peso to 8.37/8.38 versus 8.34/8.35 yesterday.
— Bernama
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