KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 — The ringgit ended marginally lower against the US dollar on Wednesday, and is seen trapped in a sideways channel, said Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid.
At 6pm, the local note depreciated to 4.4385/4435 against the greenback from Tuesday’s closing rate of 4.4315/4360.
“There are not many supporting catalysts for the ringgit and at the same time, market sentiments are inclined towards the US dollar as it seems to suggest that the Federal Reserves (Fed) will deliver a 25 basis points hike in the Fed Fund Rate during the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in May.
“This is expected to lift the value of the US dollar in the immediate term,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) announced today that Malaysia’s exports fell 1.4 per cent year-on-year in March after staging a strong growth of 9.8 per cent in the preceding month.
Mohd Afzanizam said this indicates that Malaysia’s external sector is likely to remain soft and the domestic demand would have to do the heavy lifting in order to ensure the overall growth to reach the targeted growth of four per cent to five per cent this year.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
It edged up vis-à-vis the euro to 4.8508/8563 from 4.8631/8681 on Tuesday, it rose against the Japanese yen to 3.2919/2959 from 3.3046/3082 on yesterday’s close and it was unchanged versus the British pound at 5.5100/5162 from yesterday’s 5.5101/5157.
The local note also traded mixed against Asean currencies.
It strengthened against the Indonesian rupiah at 296.1/296.8 from 298.5/299.0 on Tuesday, appreciated versus the Thai baht to 12.8719/8917 from 12.9228/9416, unchanged against the Philippine peso at 7.89/7.91 from 7.89/7.90 and strengthened against the Singapore dollar at 3.3190/3230 from 3.3265/3301 yesterday.
— Bernama
