Ringgit Ends Slightly Lower Against US Dollar

By Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (Bernama) -- The ringgit closed slightly lower against the US dollar on Thursday following a 0.1 per cent rise in the US Dollar Index (US DXY) to 98.245 points despite a weaker-than-expected job openings report in the United States (US), said an analyst.

At 6 pm, the local note eased to 4.2260/2320 from Wednesday’s close of 4.2230/2285. 

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said market attention was now on the ADP Employment Change report, which measures private-sector job creation in the US, with consensus expectations at 65,000 new jobs in August compared with 104,000 in the previous month.

“Initial Jobless Claims are expected to edge slightly higher to 230,000 last week from 229,000 the week before. In a sense, traders and markets can agree that signs of economic weakness in the US are becoming clearer,” he told Bernama.

He said the case for an interest rate cut has therefore become more compelling, with futures pricing now showing a more than 90 per cent probability of a rate reduction.

"However, the US dollar seems to gain some strength. On that note, traders and investors are likely to be more guarded as the Nonfarm Payroll (NFP) data point could surprise on the upside this Friday,” he added.

At the close, the ringgit was mostly lower against major currencies.

It rose against the euro to 4.9203/9273 from 4.9223/9287, but slipped versus the yen to 2.8489/8531 from 2.8430/8469 and against the pound to 5.6793/6874 from 5.6614/6687.

Against ASEAN currencies, the ringgit was also mostly lower, except for a slight strengthening against the Singapore dollar to 3.2775/2824 from 3.2777/2822 previously.

The local note eased against the baht to 13.0666/0908 from 13.0529/0759, was marginally lower versus the rupiah at 257.3/257.7 from 257.2/257.7, and slipped against the peso to 7.40/7.42 from 7.37/7.38.

-- BERNAMA