KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit weakened against the US dollar at the opening today as investors’ expectations on the Federal Reserve rate hike remained intact and lent some support for the dollar, said an analyst.
At 9am, the local note dropped to 4.2320/2340 against the greenback from 4.2290/2320 at Friday’s close.
Kenanga Investment Bank said the ringgit may strengthen momentarily near the 4.22 level as the 10-year US Treasury yield dropped to below the 1.35% level on Friday.
“This is amid a disappointing November US jobs report. However, the continuous spread of the Omicron cases around the world will continue to unnerve investors, sparking a sell-off in risk-on assets,” the bank said in a note today.
Kenanga said a potential rise in the US inflation rate will continue to push the US dollar index closer to the 97.0 zone, weakening the ringgit to between 4.23 and 4.25 range.
“Based on our technical analysis, the indicator suggests that the ringgit may appreciate slightly against the US dollar by 0.12% to 4.226 this week,” it added.
The local note was traded lower vis-a-vis a basket of major currencies.
The ringgit fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.0857/0876 from 3.0844/0870 at Friday's close, eased versus the British pound to 5.5994/6020 from 5.6182/6222.
It also weakened against the Japanese yen to 3.7438/7459 from 3.7316/7346 and went down against the euro to 4.7784/7806 from 4.7771/7805 previously.
Meanwhile, at 9.30a.m. today, there were 205 gainers, 393 losers and 319 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.
The FBM-KLCI was at 1,496.67 down 5.07 points, the FBMACE was at 6,344.32 down 69.26 points, and the FBMEmas was at 10,906.39 down 32.521 points.
Turnover was at 595.856 million shares valued at RM363.944 million. – Bernama, December 6, 2021
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