KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit fell against the US dollar at the close today amid cautious sentiment in the oil market ahead of the anticipated OPEC+ meeting on Thursday.
At 6pm, the local unit was pegged at 4.3450/3454 against the greenback compared with Tuesday’s close of 4.3350/3450.
Oil prices plummeted overnight after the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) lowered its 2020 forecast for global demand for oil and US crude production, sending oil traders into a frantic selling state. However, prices steadied at trading today with Brent crude inching higher by 0.69% to US$32.09 per barrel.
EIA expects the US crude production to fall by 470,000 barrels per day (bpd) and demand to weaken by about 1.3 million bpd in 2020 as Covid-19 pandemic continues to spook the global markets.
Global oil demand is also expected to ease this year by 5.6 million bpd to 5.23 million bpd, according to the organisation.
OANDA senior market analyst for Asia Pacific, Jeffrey Halley, said the ringgit still held on to most of its gains from Monday, but its next move would be dictated by factors outside of Malaysia.
“(Among the factors are) the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting tomorrow, with the hope for production cuts, and whether in fact we will see more signs of ‘peak virus’ in the US and Europe sustaining the equity rally,“ he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of currencies.
The currency rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0406/0487 from 3.0415/0496 on Tuesday but declined against the yen to 3.9906/0005 from 3.9723/9826 yesterday.
It fell against the British pound to 5.3376/3526 from 5.3552/3682 and weakened against the euro to 4.7173/7291 from 4.7200/7320. - Bernama
