KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit continued its downtrend this week to close lower today as market sentiment remained weak amid no fresh leads.
At 6 pm, the local note depreciated to 4.4755/4805 versus the greenback compared to last Friday’s closing rate of 4.4335/4370.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said local investors stayed on the sidelines after the greenback saw higher demand on strong US bond yields.
Besides, he said, recent comments by Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of Cleveland leader Loretta Mester on the need to hike interest rates due to higher inflation data also put pressure on the ringgit.
“Fed Bank of Cleveland leader Loretta Mester said over the weekend that the Fed will need to hike rates further due to the ‘hotter’ inflation data.
“Recently, the US inflation data, including the Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index and Personal Consumption Expenditures, rose above expectations,” he told Bernama.
On top of that, he said, US-China tension was surfacing again and turning investors away from Asian investment.
In the meantime, the ringgit was also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local unit depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.2816/2855 from 3.2804/2833 at Friday’s close and declined versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3162/3204 from 3.2970/3001 previously.
It also fell against the euro to 4.7212/7265 from 4.6933/6970 at the end of last week and shrank vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.3576/3636 from 5.3308/3350. – BERNAMA
