After weeks of being below MYR 4, the past few days have seen the Malaysian ringgit weaken against the USD, despite a recent recovery.
The decline of the MYR could be influenced by a number of factors including the strengthening of the USD forcing the ringgit to rise above MYR 4 to the US dollar. Last week, speculations were made by market commentators following the announcement of state fund 1MDB defaulting on its billion bond, saying the defaults would have a negative effect on the ringgit.
Mitul Kotecha, the head of Asian foreign-exchange and interest-rate strategy at Barclays Plc in Singapore, told Bloomberg that “This partly reflects the dollar’s turnaround.” He also noted “That, combined with the fact that there’s been a drop in commodity prices, has weighed on some currencies such as the ringgit.”
According to Bloomberg, the MYR closed 5 May 2016 at 4.0078, and has opened this morning at 4.0103. Here’s a representation of the ringgit’s performance against the dollar over the last five years:
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