KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit ended marginally lower against the US dollar today as profit-taking emerged following strong gains yesterday, dealers said.
At 6pm, the local currency finished at 4.0670/0710 versus the greenback compared with Thursday’s close of 4.0650/0700.
Selling was mostly recorded during the opening session, but as sentiment in the market was still intact, the ringgit managed to narrow its losses during the afternoon session.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit, generally, had been sturdy this week thanks to the favourable external environment following news on the Covid-19 vaccines, coupled with the approval of Budget 2021 at the policy stage.
Nonetheless, trade data showing exports grew by a modest 0.2% in October suggested the economy in the final quarter of the year was expected to be soft, he said.
“The current measures under the conditional movement control order (CMCO) are likely to affect the recovery momentum.
“Therefore, we could expect some correction in the ringgit as the currency has appreciated quite steeply recently amid tentative signs of economic recovery,” he told Bernama.
Earlier, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) announced that Malaysia’s trade surplus in October widened to RM22.12 billion, registering a double-digit growth of 25.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) and representing the highest trade surplus ever recorded for the month.
Miti said exports reached RM91.05 billion in October, increasing by 0.2% compared to the same month in 2019, and this was the third-highest export value recorded thus far.
“The expansion was supported mainly by higher exports to the United States, China, India and the United Kingdom,” it said in a statement.
Against other currencies, the ringgit was also weaker.
The local currency slipped versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0380/0431 from 3.0365/0405 on Thursday and eased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.9083/9133 from 3.8982/9041 yesterday.
The ringgit also slightly depreciated versus the British pound to 5.4319/4389 from 5.4308/4391 yesterday and fell against the euro to 4.8479/8543 from 4.8382/8457 previously. – Bernama, November 27, 2020
