Ringgit lower against US dollar in early trade

The ringgit opened lower versus the US dollar today on further appreciation of the US dollar index as investors remain wary of the global growth prospect outlook, especially in China. 

At 9.01am, the local note declined to 4.6275/6295 against the US dollar compared with 4.6140/6175 at Monday's closing. 

Bank Muamalat Malaysia chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the key data points from China today include the fixed asset investment whereby consensus estimates expected it to be sustained at 3.8% in July.

He also noted that the retail sales data in the US is expected to increase by 0.4% month-on-month in July from 0.2% previously, suggesting the US Federal Reserve’s pivot would not occur in the near term. 

"As such, the ringgit-US dollar exchange is likely to flirt around its near-term resistance level of 4.6257 today," Afzanizam told Bernama.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies. 

It rose marginally against the Japanese yen to 3.1822/1838 from 3.1832/1858 on Monday, improved versus the euro to 5.0468/0489 from 5.0519/0557, but fell vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.8691/8716 from 5.8575/8619 previously.

In the meantime, the local unit was traded lower against other Asean currencies.

The ringgit eased against the Indonesian rupiah to 302.1/302.4 from 301.2/301.6 on Monday and weakened against the Philippine peso to 8.15/8.18 from 8.11/8.13.

It was lower versus the Singapore dollar to 3.4124/4143 from 3.4064/4095 at Monday’s close and declined vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.1232/1337 from 13.1173/1332 yesterday.