Ringgit ends trading lower against the US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit continued its decline last Friday, ending the day lower against the US dollar on Monday, following profit-taking after recent gains.

According to Bernama, this development was noted amid cautious sentiment ahead of the US employment report announcement at the end of the week, analysts said.

At 6 p.m., the ringgit was quoted at 4.3550/3600 against the US dollar, down from 4.3185/3225 last Friday.

Dr. Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, Chief Economist at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, said that the ringgit’s lower movement was observed amidst cautious sentiment today after showing strong performance last month.

He also noted that the market is awaiting the decision from the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) monetary policy meeting on Thursday, as well as the US non-farm payroll data scheduled for Friday.

“The central bank is likely to maintain the overnight policy rate steady at 3.00 percent, while the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is on track to cut rates at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on September 17-18, 2024,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly lower against other major currencies, except for the Japanese yen, against which it strengthened to 2.9688/9725 from 2.9754/9784 last Friday.

The ringgit weakened against the euro to 4.8197/8252 from 4.7862/7906, and against the British pound to 5.7203/7269 from 5.6939/6992.

The ringgit also traded mostly lower against other ASEAN currencies.

However, the local unit strengthened against the Thai baht to 12.7228/7429 from 12.7540/7726 last week, but weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.3321/3361 from 3.3158/3191.

Against the Indonesian rupiah, the ringgit weakened to 280.4/280.9 from 279.3/279.8 last Friday and was lower against the Philippine peso at 7.72/7.73 from 7.69/7.70.