kuala lumpur: The ringgit retreated from a four-day streak of gains and closed lower against the US dollar on Friday after a recent surge, economists said.
At 6pm, the local currency fell to 4.4250/4305 against the dollar compared to yesterday’s close of 4.4160/4200.
Dr. Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, Chief Economist and Social Finance at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, said the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) released in February showed Malaysia’s inflation rate holding at 3.7% for the second straight month. said that it shows that
“Similarly, core CPI remained at 3.9% for the second month in a row.
“We believe inflation is still high, with average inflation since 2006 of 2.2%,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly high against a basket of major currencies excluding the Japanese yen.
Municipal bonds rose to 4.7476/7535 from 4.8055/8098 against the euro at yesterday’s close and 5.4034/4101 against the British pound from a previous 5.4379/4428 to 5.4034/4101.
However, it fell against the Japanese Yen to 3.4099/4144 from yesterday’s 3.3679/3712.
At the same time, the ringgit almost fell against the ASEAN currencies.
Local currencies fell against the Indonesian rupiah on Wednesday to 291.90/292.50 from 287.70/288.10, fell against the Thai baht to 12.9610/9835 from 12.9562/9741 and against the Philippine peso previously 8.13/8.14. to 8.15/8.16.
However, the local note rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.3178/3225 from 3.3278/3313 previously. –bernama
