THE ringgit slipped further against the US dollar at the close today, in line with most regional currencies.

The greenback strengthened due to uncertainties surrounding the Federal Reserve’s decision regarding inflation rates. Additionally, the release of US inflation data this week also contributed to the dollar’s rise.

Asian currencies were also weighed down by sentiment brought about by disappointing Chinese trade figures, an analyst said.

At 6pm, the local note fell to 4.5815/5845 against the US dollar from 4.5575/5625 at yesterday’s close.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said China’s trade performance continues to deteriorate with total exports and imports falling further to 14.5% and 12.4% respectively in July (June: -12.4%, -6.8% respectively).

“This is suggesting that the world’s second-largest economy is facing a challenging outlook this year. Consequently, the yuan has weakened against the US dollar by 0.018% to 7.2111 yuan,” he said.

“Following this, China’s monetary policy is likely to remain accommodative to provide support to the overall economy. Given the close correlation between the yuan and ringgit at 68%, the ringgit has also weakened further.”

The local note traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

It dropped against the Japanese yen to 3.2027/2050 from 3.2018/2056 yesterday, weakened versus the euro to 5.0264/0297 from 4.9978/0032 and declined vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.8332/8370 from 5.7971/8035 previously.

The ringgit also traded lower against other Asean currencies.

The ringgit went down versus the Singapore dollar to 3.4030/4055 from 3.3968/4008 from yesterday’s close and depreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 301.0/301.3 from 300.0/300.6.

It eased vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 8.14/8.15 from 8.13/8.14 yesterday and fell against the Thai baht at 13.1050/1184 from 13.0801/0997. – Bernama, August 8, 2023.