KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — The ringgit was flat against the US dollar in the early session today as traders opted to stay on the sidelines, amidst unfavourable economic data coming out from both Malaysia and the United States.
At 9.17 am, the local unit was quoted at 4.3100/3200 against the greenback from 4.3100/3190 at the close yesterday.
A dealer said traders are waiting for more clues on the movement of the currencies before making their next move, following weak factory data from both economies.
Malaysia’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slumped to 31.3 in April from 48.4 in March, the lowest since the start of the survey, as sentiment was pummeled by Covid-19 headwinds,
US factory orders, on the other hand, showed steep nosedive in March, plummeting by 10.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against other major currencies, except against the euro, where it was higher at 4.7026/7153 from 4.7138/7254.
It depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0453/0534 from 3.0427/0501, weakened against the yen to 4.0443/0548 from 4.0363/0467 and lower against the pound to 5.3703/3836 from 5.3603/3733.
— Bernama
