KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit moved slightly weaker against the US dollar at the close today, tracking the continued depreciation in oil prices, analysts said.
At 6 pm, the ringgit was traded at 4.3700/3770 versus the greenback which closed at 4.3650/3750 last Friday.
As of this afternoon, the benchmark Brent crude fell 3.42% to US$27.12 per barrel from its previous closing session.
AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes said a correction of deeper production cuts is needed in the supply glut for oil, as something like monetary or fiscal policy cannot do at this juncture.
However, regardless of what the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) does, he said there would still be structural demand loss for oil due to fewer travel activities.
“At a minimum, oil prices will be the last asset class to recover from a lockdown. Transport demand will only occur in the final stages of reopening when border crossings are allowed and travel restrictions lifted. People will then flock again to planes, trains and automobile,” Innes said in a note.
Meanwhile, the ringgit also traded lower against other major currencies.
It weakened against the yen to 4.0587/0663 from 4.0465/0562 last Friday and dropped against the pound to 5.4524/4616 from 5.4200/4342.
The local note declined against the euro to 4.7550/7644 from 4.7216/7338 and depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0751/0811 from 3.0621/0702. – April 20, 2020, Bernama
