KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Sept: The Malaysian Ringgit continues to fall compared to the US Dollar when it opened today.
As of 12 noon today, the local unit was priced at 4.31 compared to the US dollar from yesterday’s closing at 4.29.
A trader said that the US dollar strengthened following policy inconsistencies among central banks.
“The dollar strengthened because the US Federal Reserve (Fed) plans to strengthen the monetary policy, while the European Central Bank also wants to further loosed monetary polices,” reported Bernama.
The local currency was traded mixed against other major currencies.
The ringgit was lower against the Singapore dollar at 3.04 from yesterday’s closing at 3.03 and strengthened against the Euro to 4.800 from 4.808 yesterday.
The ringgit was tied at RM3.8 per dollar in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.
The exchange rate is Malaysia’s worst decline this year due to the country’s controversial investment company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that about US $ 700 million (RM2.6 billion) from various entities associated with 1MDB was channeled into the Prime Minister’s bank account on July 3.
NS
