KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit extended its positive run against the US dollar today as a result of a weakening greenback following greater uncertainties on the US government’s import tariffs that led to weak business and consumer sentiment, an analyst said.
At 8 am, the local note climbed 170 percentage in points (pips) to 4.4100/4250 against the US dollar from 4.4270/4320 at Wednesday’s close, Bernama reported.
Hence, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said this scenario could mean a pullback in spending among firms and households that will deteriorate the US economic growth severely.
He also said that some of the major investment banks in the US have been contemplating the likelihood of a US recession with the tariffs in place.
Besides that, Mohd Afzanizam also pointed out that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s Monetary Policy Committee’s decision today would see the overnight policy rate (OPR) stay unchanged at 3.00 per cent.
“What is more important is the latest assessment by the MPC members regarding the state of the global economy and their biases concerning the outlook for 2025,” he told Bernama.
As such, he said that, perhaps the USD/MYR would be attempting to move towards its current support level of 4.37.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It was marginally lower against the Japanese yen to 2.9619/9722 from 2.9614/9647 at Wednesday’s close, weakened against the British pound to 5.6840/7034 from 5.6825/6889, and fell versus the euro to 4.7602/7763 from 4.7409/7462 yesterday.
In contrast, the local currency was mostly higher against ASEAN currencies.
The ringgit strengthened vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 270.3/271.3 from 271.3/271.8 on Wednesday, rose against the Philippine peso to 7.69/7.72 from 7.72/7.73, and gained against the Thai baht to 13.1211/1767 from 13.1545/1756 previously.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.3128/3246 from 3.3126/3166 yesterday. – March 6, 2025