Ringgit likely to trade at current levels next week

KUALA LUMPUR — The ringgit is expected to trade at current levels next week on mixed market sentiments, likely influenced by local political developments and concerns over rising Covid-19 cases, said an analyst, according to AFP.

As such, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim opined that the ringgit would remain trading at above 4.20 against the US dollar next week.

“Investors will continue analysing the developments from the Parliament Special Meeting and the high daily Covid-19 cases, particularly from the highly infectious Delta variant,” he told Bernama.

Malaysia recorded 16,840 daily Covid-19 cases yesterday, slight down after two consecutive days of recording over 17,000 cases, bringing the cumulative number of cases in the country to 1,095,486.

Over the past one week, the Institute of Medical Research has identified 10 cases caused by the Delta variant, the new and more transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

On a weekly basis, the ringgit appreciated versus the US dollar to 4.2190/2220 from 4.2255/2275 a week ago.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against other major currencies.

Against the Singapore dollar, the local unit depreciated to 3.1189/1216 from 3.1070/1089 a week earlier and fell against the British pound to 5.8935/8977 from 5.8054/8082.

It also weakened against the euro to 5.0181/0216 from 4.9726/9749 in the preceding week and slipped vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.8502/8529 from 3.8254/8275 previously.