Ringgit Pares Gains Against US Dollar On Profit-taking

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- The ringgit pared last week’s gains to close lower against the US dollar today due to profit-taking, an analyst said.

At 6 pm, the ringgit slid to 4.4500/4580 versus the greenback from Friday's close of 4.4200/4280.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the local note is currently in an overbought position following its recent gains.

“The ringgit was lower against major and regional currencies today as traders may have pocketed some gains,” he told Bernama.

He said the US dollar/ringgit’s support and resistance levels are at RM4.4005 and RM4.4960, respectively.

Mohd Afzanizam said market participants are keeping an eye out for the upcoming inflation data in the United States, mainly the consumer price index for July due on Wednesday and the producer price index on Tuesday.

Market players are also awaiting fresh leads with Malaysia's gross domestic product data for the second quarter of 2024 this week to be announced on Friday.

At the close, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

It fell vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8630/8717 from 4.8253/8340 at Friday’s close, weakened against the Japanese yen to 3.0206/0263 from 3.0019/0075, and depreciated versus the British pound to 5.6760/6862 from 5.6373/6475 previously.

Similarly, the unit also traded lower against ASEAN currencies.

It slipped versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3600/3663 from 3.3381/3444 at Friday’s close and declined against the Indonesian rupiah to 278.8/279.5 from 277.5/278.2 previously.

The local note dropped vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.6130/6414 from 12.5234/5514 at the end of last week and went down against the Philippine peso to 7.76/7.78 from 7.71/7.73 previously.

-- BERNAMA