THE ringgit ended flat against the US dollar today with the local note tracking the Chinese yuan’s weakness as China’s latest stimulus measures fell below expectations, an analyst said.

At 6pm, the local note remained unchanged at 4.6465/6510 against the greenback from Friday’s close.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit remained stuck at around RM4.65 per US dollar as China’s latest stimulus measures underwhelmed.

“The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was cut by 10 basis points to 3.4%, which was lower than the 15-basis-point reduction as anticipated by the market, while the five-year LPR was unexpectedly maintained at 4.2%,” he said.

“Consequently, China’s yuan weakened against the US dollar by 0.29% to 7.3059 yuan,” he said, adding that it seemed that China was quite timid in responding to the threats of slower growth going forward.

“Therefore, it is going to be a risk-off mode at the moment, which will translate into a weaker ringgit.”

The ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

It strengthened versus the Japanese yen to 3.1869/1902 from 3.1926/1959 on Friday, depreciated against the euro to 5.0647/0696 from 5.0503/0552 and inched down vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9196/9254 from 5.9131/9189.

The local note was mixed against other Asean currencies.

The ringgit rose slightly against the Philippine peso to 8.24/8.26 from 8.27/8.28 on Friday and improved versus the Indonesian rupiah to 303.1/303.6 from 303.9/304.2.

It declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.4241/4279 from 3.4228/4264 on Friday and slid vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.2070/2258 from 13.1331/1510. – Bernama, August 21, 2023.