A customer counts her ringgit notes outside a money changer at the central business district in Singapore in this August 25, 2015 file photo. Malaysia's ringgit jumped more than 5 percent to a five-week high on October 7, 2015 on stop-loss dollar selling and higher local stocks. The ringgit, the worst performing Asian currency so far this year, surged as much as 5.2 percent to 4.1600 per dollar, its strongest since Sept 1. REUTERS/Edgar Su/Files

Malaysia: Downward pressure on ringgit continues

  • Aug 02, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit was lower on Monday amid lack of catalysts, domestically.

At 9.14 am, the local note eased to 4.2235/2265 versus the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.2190/2220.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim opined that the ringgit will continue trading above 4.20 today and this week amid the heightened number of COVID-19 cases in the country despite the encouraging vaccination rates.

“Aside from that, there seems to be lack of fresh catalysts in the market, causing downward pressure to continue towards the ringgit,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, the local note was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.

The ringgit rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1186/1210 from Friday’s close of 3.1189/1216 and strengthened against the British pound to 5.8698/8740 from 5.8935/8977.

The local unit, however, depreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0120/0156 from 5.0181/0216, and dropped against the Japanese yen to 3.8511/8542 from 3.8502/8529. – Bernama