The Malaysian ringgit (RM) opened lower against the US dollar for the second time in a row and the US currency also strengthened higher against several other major world currency groups.
At exactly 10.40 this morning, the ringgit was at 4.6675 compared to yesterday's close at around 4.6453 in the Asian trading session.
According to SPI Asset Managing Partner, Stephen Inned said there is little buying traction for the US dollar due to geopolitical concerns and market instability in the Middle East, the United States and China.
He also said that the market will pay attention to important signals based on speeches from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials regarding the possibility of interest rate cuts in March.
For now, trading activity is weaker due to the absence of interest rate cuts from China and has little negative impact on economic growth. So, there is a bit of a double effect on the base side.
Meanwhile, Afzanizam Rashid said there was a 'risk-off' mode after China was reported to be experiencing a deflationary trend with its consumer price index recording negative data for three consecutive months.
At the same time, the Bank of China surprised the market by not cutting its interest rates and the US dollar gained strength against other major currencies.
The ringgit is also seen trading low compared to other major world currencies. It weakened against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Not only that, the ringgit also lost against Asean currencies such as the Singapore dollar, the Thai baht, the Indonesian rupiah and the Philippine peso.
