SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said despite the ongoing debt ceiling roller coaster, the market remains cautiously confident of a successful deal between Biden and McCarthy by this weekend.
“The market is responding favourably for the US dollar, while China’s uneven recovery, cautious local sentiment, less supportive portfolio flows and US dollar hoarding are making the ringgit weaker,” he said.
At the close, the ringgit was traded easier against a basket of major currencies. The local note stood at 4.5470/5515 versus the US dollar at 6pm from last Friday’s closing rate of 4.5350/5405.
It weakened vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.6578/6634 from 5.6370/6438 at the close last Friday, eased against the euro to 4.9189/9238 from 4.8978/9037 and closed lower against the Japanese yen at 3.2973/3008 from 3.2839/2881 previously.
The local note was also traded lower against other Asean currencies.
It depreciated versus the Indonesian rupiah to 305.3/305.8 from 303.6/304.2 at last Friday’s close, declined to 3.3799/3835 from 3.3715/3758 against the Singapore dollar and fell vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 3.1950/2138 from 13.1862/2083.
However, the ringgit was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 8.14/8.16 since last Friday.