THE ringgit was lower against the US dollar in the early session today on weaker demand for the local note due to the country’s bearish economic outlook.
At 9.20am, the ringgit was quoted at 4.3190/3280 against the US dollar from 4.3050/3150 recorded last Friday.
A dealer said an open economy like Malaysia is vulnerable to external weaknesses brought upon by uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has significantly affected global economic growth prospects and has halted a majority of economic activities worldwide.
“Furthermore, market players expects Malaysia to experience economic contraction for the first time in a decade with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) recently announced its projections that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be between -2% and 0.5% this year amid,” he added.
Meanwhile, the ringgit also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It decreased vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar at 3.0484/05653 from 3.0461/0553 and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.9972/4.0049 from 3.9696/9799.
The local note was lower against the British pound at 5.3841/3970 from 5.3709/3851 and weakened against the euro at 4.7246/7361 from 4.7114/7236 recorded last Friday’s close. – April 13, 2020, Bernama
