KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar today, with positive United States economic data outlook supporting the greenback.
At 6pm, the local note eased to 4.0695/0735 against the greenback from October 30’s close of 4.0555/0600.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the October US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP), scheduled to be released on Friday, is expected to reach 65,000 against the preceding month’s 29,000, while the unemployment rate is expected to stay at 4.2 per cent.
“Positive data point(s) could mean the Fed could resume its rate-tightening cycle in (its) December meeting, with odds for the Fed Fund Rate hike at 71.1 per cent compared with 78.9 per cent a month ago.
“Still, higher odds could mean higher chance of rate tightening, which can be positive for the US dollar,” he told Bernama.
Afzanizam also said regional currencies were mostly in the red against the US dollar as traders and investors are anxious about the prospect of renewed attacks on Iran after US midterm elections tomorrow.
“The US dollar-ringgit trading progressively moved up from RM4.057 in the early morning trade to RM4.072 in the afternoon session, while the Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah and Japanese yen declined 0.24 per cent, 0.13 per cent and 0.06 per cent, respectively,” he said.
Against major currencies, the ringgit traded mostly lower.
The ringgit slid against the British pound to 5.4621/4675 from 5.4461/4522 October 30’s close, softened against the euro to 4.5652/5697 from 4.5413/5464, but it inched up vis-a-vis the yen to 2.5766/5793 from 2.5782/5812 previously.
The ringgit was lower against its ASEAN peers.
It fell vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.1825/1862 from previous close of 3.1753/1791, slipped versus the baht to 12.0496/0661 from 12.0373/0561, edged down against the rupiah to 224.1/224.4 from 223.4/223.8, and was slightly lower vis-a-vis the Philippine peso at 6.39/6.41 from 6.36/6.37 previously.
