By Zufazlin Baharuddin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian ringgit slid further to open lower at RM4.4 against the US dollar, the lowest since March 2020 following a hawkish stance by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to tighten its monetary policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 9.19 am, the local note stood at 4.4050\/4080 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.3960\/3975.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ringgit hit a record low on March 23, 2020 when it reached RM4.447.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said this is a reflection on heightened economic uncertainties which in the current context is about the prospect of higher interest rate in the US and inflation outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHigher inflation rate is taking a toll on the consumer sector as business costs are rising, affecting their profit margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Fed is also adamant with their rate hike campaign which could possibly stoke a much slower economic activities at some point in the future,\u201d he told Bernama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Fed chair Jerome Powell said the Fed would keep raising rates until inflation comes down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mohd Afzanizam said major central banks are also likely to tighten their grip on monetary policy as inflation seems to be pervasive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, the major central banks are really in a tough spot as they need to weigh between rising inflationary pressures and ensuring economic growth remains robust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides, he said recession also appears to be the buzz word these days which has resulted in higher demand for risk-free assets such as the US Treasury bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another note, he said the export ban of agrofood-related products by certain jurisdiction is expected to amplify the extent of inflationary pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hence, foreign exchange players would continue to remain in the safe-haven currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ringgit was, however, traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1693\/1717 from Wednesday’s close of 3.1713\/1728, increased vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6200\/6231 from 4.6268\/6284, and strengthened versus the British pound to 5.4406\/4443 from 5.4554\/4573.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the ringgit slid versus the Japanese yen to 3.4269\/4295 from 3.4041\/4055.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
— NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Zufazlin Baharuddin KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian ringgit slid further to open lower at RM4.4 against the US dollar, the lowest since March 2020 following a hawkish stance by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to tighten its monetary policy. At 9.19 am, the local note stood at 4.4050\/4080 versus the greenback […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":147241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,288,300,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176177"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=176177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176179,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176177\/revisions\/176179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/147241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=176177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=176177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=176177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}