KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit was lower against the US dollar this morning on weaker demand for the local note, ahead of the release of US manufacturing sector data.
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At 9.02am, the local note was at 4.1860/1900 against the greenback compared to 4.1850/1890 at the close yesterday.
A dealer said market players are expecting the US manufacturing data making a return to growth in September after experiencing contraction for the first time in three years in August.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly higher against other major currencies. It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.0272/0310 from 3.0256/0296 yesterday but increased against the yen to 3.8698/8746 from 3.8757/8801.
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The local note strengthened versus the British pound to 5.1404/1457 from 5.1496/1562 and rose against the euro to 4.5598/5658 from 4.5704/5752 previously. – Bernama
Ambank research is downplaying reports that Washington was considering delisting Chinese companies from the US stock exchanges.
“We feel the threat of delisting was being seen as just a tactic ahead of US-China trade negotiations resuming on October 10. It is a strategy that we have seen in the past — keeping the pressure very high and then settling for whatever deal is possible,” it said.
However, for the coming US-China trade talks, it believes any deal that is struck will be short of comprehensive and likely to be cosmetic in nature. China’s markets will be closed for most of this week owing to the Golden Week holidays.
Investors’ focus will be on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision whereby expectations are for a 25bps rate cut to stimulate the flagging economy.
“On that note, we expect MYR to trade between our support level of 4.1749 and 4.1781 while our resistance is pinned at 4.1945 and 4.2012,” it said. -The Star