KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar amid an underwhelming response to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries + (OPEC+) production cut deal and the not-so-rosy China trade balance for March.
At 6 pm, the ringgit was quoted at 4.3300/3400 against the US dollar from 4.3200/3280 recorded at Monday’s close.
AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes said despite the OPEC+ deal, the market was still worried about the demand side amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
“This hurts local inflows. The ringgit needs higher oil prices as it is the local unit’s auto stabiliser,” he added.
In addition, Innes said, the performance of Asia’s currency markets was a mixed bag after China’s trade balance narrowed, although both exports and imports were better than expected in percentage terms.
“And when factoring in the backlogged export data, it’s not that significant as a local forex driver although the data is better than expected,” he noted.
China’s trade balance narrowed to US$19.9 bil (RM86.27 bil) in March, while exports declined 6.6% in dollar terms from a year earlier and imports fell 0.9%.
The country recorded a combined 17.2% contraction in January and February exports, while imports fell 4% in the two months combined.
Innes said traders would likely sit tight waiting for China to release its first-quarter gross domestic product figure on Friday as well as for the US March retail sales and industrial production data.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It declined vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.0558/0639 from 3.0513/0582 on Monday and was lower against the euro at 4.7388/7514 from 4.7252/7344.
The local unit also weakened against the yen to 4.0290/039 from 4.0011/0096 yesterday and depreciated against the British pound to 5.4342/4489 from 5.4026/4139 previously. – April 14, 2020, Bernama
