Ringgit Falls Against US Dollar On Economic Concerns
The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar on Monday as the American currency strengthened amid renewed uncertainty caused by challenging global economic forecasts for the second half of 2025.
At 8:03 am, the local currency was quoted at 4.2375/2560 against the US dollar, compared to 4.2270/2360 on Friday.
During early trading, the ringgit was mostly weaker against a basket of major currencies. It edged up against the Japanese yen to 2.9305/9435 from 2.9324/9390 on Friday but declined against the pound to 5.7367/7618 from 5.7212/7334 and slipped versus the euro to 4.8341/8552 from 4.8268/8371.
The local currency also saw mixed performance against ASEAN currencies. It strengthened against the Thai baht to 12.9468/13.0121 from 12.9599/9947 on Friday, but weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.2892/3041 from 3.2862/2934, dropped against the Philippine peso to 7.60/7.64 from 7.58/7.60 and declined versus the Indonesian rupiah to 260.1/261.4 from 259.5/260.2.
Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, Chief Economist at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, said the ringgit is expected to trade between RM4.23 and RM4.24 today, following stronger-than-expected US non-farm payroll (NFP) data for May.
He said the US NFP increased by 139,000 in May, exceeding the consensus estimate of 126,000, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2% for the third consecutive month. This led to the US Dollar Index (DXY) rising to 99.190 points on Friday.
'Latest NFP data shows that the US labour market remains resilient despite facing high tariffs,' he told local media.
However, he noted that April's NFP figures were revised downwards from 177,000 to 147,000, while the US labour force participation rate fell to 62.4% in May from 62.6% in April.
'Therefore, although the labour market is still healthy, indicators of slower growth in the data set are becoming more apparent.
'Based on weak business and consumer sentiment, economic outlook for the second half of 2025 appears increasingly challenging. In our view, the likelihood of a cut in the US Federal Funds Rate has risen,' he added.
Last week, the ringgit strengthened against the US dollar, with USDMYR closing at RM4.2315, marking a weekly gain of 0.6%. Related
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