KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit extended last week’s downtrend to open lower against the US dollar as the greenback strengthened on better-than-expected employment data.
At 9am, the ringgit was quoted at 4.1460/1480 against the US dollar from 4.1360/1400 on Friday.
AxiCorp’s chief market strategist Stephen Innes said the ringgit remained under pressure on general Asia de-risking amid concerns around the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
However, after the rate cut in the overnight policy rate (OPR) last month, the market is pricing Bank Negara Malaysia to deliver another reduction in the first half of this year.
“This mainly as the virus weighs on growth via tourism, consumption, as well as to defend against the potential disruption in the supply chain linkages with China,” he said in a note today (Feb 10).
Against other major currencies, the ringgit was traded mostly lower.
It weakened against the Singapore dollar to 2.9799/9818 from 2.9730/9769 on Friday, depreciated vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.7801/7829 from 3.7672/7712 and contracted against the euro to 4.5407/5433 from 4.5306/5354.
The local currency, however, appreciated versus the British pound to 5.3459/3488 from 5.3466/3534 previously. – Feb 10, 2020, Bernama
