Ringgit Lower Against US Dollar In Early Session

By Harizah Hanim Mohamed KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 (Bernama) -- The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar in the early session Monday on the back of anticipation that this week might turn out to be the busiest for the market, due to meetings of global central banks, as well as the critical historical summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un. At 9.07 am, the ringgit was quoted at 3.9810/9850 from the 3.9870/9900 recorded at Friday's close. OANDA Head of Trading in Asia-Pacific, Stephen Innes said as the market set its sights eyes on equity inflow, it will very much be determined by the outcome of the Trump -Kim summit in Singapore. “However, the real key is the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank (ECB) meetings,” he told Bernama in an email. He said that a hawkish Fed meeting outcome would be very detrimental to emerging markets and local risk, as the dollar would surge, whereas a hawkish ECB is less harmful, but could still weigh on the market negatively. Meanwhile, the White House deadline for finalising tariffs on Chinese goods is June 15 and the Fed is widely expected to announce an interest rate hike on Wednesday. All these would have a significant impact on the emerging currencies, including the ringgit. The local unit also traded mixed against a basket of currencies. It weakened against the Singapore dollar to 2.9845/9877 from 2.9836/9881 on Friday and declined against the euro to 4.6968/7019 from 4.6903/6946. The ringgit, however, strengthened vis-a-vis the yen to 3.6353/6399 from 3.6468/6505 and edged up against the British pound to 5.341383483 from 5.3482/3534. -- BERNAMA