KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit extended its loss against the US dollar today as the greenback continues to strengthen against Asian currencies.
This was despite the retracement of the US dollar index after a dovish statement from the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, leading traders to consider the possibilities of a US interest rate hike, dealers said.
At 9am, the local note fell to 4.1620/1665 versus the greenback from 4.1600/1640 at Wednesday’s close.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s downtrend at the opening today due to the lack of fresh catalysts.
At 9.39am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.62 points to 1,560.14 from yesterday’s close of 1,564.76.
The index opened 1.2 points better at 1,565.96.
At 9.30am, there were 196 gainers, 337 losers and 333 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.
The FBMACE was at 7,484.37 down 15.22 points, and the FBMEmas was at 11,386.11 down 23.56 points.
Turnover was at 779.974 million shares valued at RM323.377 million. – Bernama, June 24, 2021
