KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit depreciated as the US dollar regained its strength amid the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England’s (BoE) dovish tone on inflation.
At 9am, the ringgit eased to 4.2580/2640 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.2445/2490.
Yesterday, both the ECB and the BoE announced interest rate hikes of 50 basis points.
“The US dollar is higher today as both the ECB and BoE were net dovish to expectations.
“While the broader stronger greenback is an overhang, the predominant theme currently impacting Asian currencies is the uncertainty over the near-term economic outlook in China amid stretched positioning,” said SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes.
He said that the weaker China Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) early this week rocked the recovery boat a touch this week.
The Caixin PMI index reading remained below 50 at 49.2 in January compared to December’s 49.0.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies except for the Japanese yen, where it had depreciated to 3.3098/3147 from 3.2924/2961 at yesterday’s close.
The local note rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.2474/2525 from yesterday’s closing of 3.2498/2534, improved vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.1986/2059 from 5.2381/2437 and was better against the euro at 4.6395/6461 from 4.6685/6735 previously. – Bernama, February 3, 2023
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