Ringgit Closes Higher As US-China Trade Tension Weighs On Greenback

By Harizah Hanim Mohamed

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- The ringgit closed higher against the US dollar on Thursday as continued trade tension between the United States and China weighed on the dollar.

At 6 pm, the local note climbed to 4.2275/2300 against the US dollar from 4.2305/2355 at yesterday’s close.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the weaker performance of the greenback resulted in the decline of the US Dollar Index (DXY), which fell by 0.21 per cent to 98.584.

“The trade tension, coupled with a dovish tilt by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and the ongoing US government shutdown, has raised the prospects of an interest rate cut in the United States at the end of this month,” he told Bernama.

However, the ringgit weakened against a basket of major currencies.

It slipped against the euro to 4.9284/9313 from 4.9213/9272 at Wednesday’s close, softened further versus the British pound to 5.6792/6826 from 5.6469/6535, and was almost flat vis-à-vis the Japanese yen at 2.7943/7961 from 2.7948/7983.

The ringgit traded mostly higher against ASEAN currencies.

It was marginally higher against the Singapore dollar at 3.2630/2651 from 3.2648/2689 previously, strengthened against the Indonesian rupiah to 254.9/255.2 from 255.2/255.6, and advanced versus the Philippine peso to  7.27/7.28 from 7.29/7.30 previously.

The ringgit, however, depreciated versus the Thai baht to 12.9933/13.0151 from 12.8975/9182 at yesterday’s close.

-- BERNAMA