THE ringgit continued to depreciate against the US dollar today amid persistent buying support for the safe-haven greenback, an analyst said. 

At 9am, the ringgit fell to 4.4400/4440 versus the greenback from yesterday close of 4.4310/4345.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said there is growing consensus that the US Federal Reserve would hold rates higher for longer in a more robust economic environment.

“The combination of weaker stocks and much higher US yields also will be a problem for the ringgit today, and the local unit should trade weaker in line with the Chinese Yuan,” he said to Bernama. 

He noted that local sentiment was dampened by the easing of US recession fears – a development that would presumably have caused the Fed to stop raising rates entirely and switch to a rate-cutting mode.

The ringgit also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local unit slipped against the Japanese yen to 3.2933/2965 from 3.2910/2938 at yesterday’s close and eased vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3147/3182 from 3.3117/3148 yesterday.

It also slid versus the euro to 4.7322/7364 from 4.7230/7267 and narrowed against the British pound to 5.3857/3906 from 5.3531/3573 previously. – Bernama, February 22, 2023.