Ringgit ends lower against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit extended yesterday's losses to depreciate further against the US dollar today due to external factors which also dragged other emerging market currencies, dealers said.
At 6pm, the local note finished at 4.0500/0530 against the greenback from yesterday's 4.0395/0425.
A dealer said a number of emerging market currencies across the globe were suffering from the buying momentum for the US dollar, including some of Malaysia's geographical neighbours, amid the ongoing trade tensions.
"The trade conflict between United-States and China is dominating buying sentiment in the market and it has encouraged investors to shift their interest to the greenback.
"On the local front, the ringgit remained under pressure against the broadly stronger US dollar after the US inflation data reaffirmed expectation that the Federal Reserve would further hike interest rates twice this year," the dealer said.
At the close, however, the local unit traded mostly higher against a basket of currencies.
The ringgit appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 2.9620/9651 from 2.9643/9672 and rose against the euro to 4.7122/7161 from 4.7161/7212 on Thursday.
It improved against the British pound to 5.3189/3236 from 5.3394/3438 but depreciated versus the yen to 3.6006/6043 from 3.5926/5959 previously. — Bernama