RINGGIT ENDS FLAT IN QUIET TRADING AHEAD OF US THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- The ringgit ended flat against the US dollar on Thursday in a quiet trading session due to significantly reduced demand from key investors ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday, an analyst said.

At 6 pm, the local currency stood at 4.4440/4490 against the US dollar compared to yesterday’s close of 4.4440/4465.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the ringgit trade mirrored the day’s broader Asian forex trends, driven primarily by local currency exchanges. "The session (today) saw a slight regression from the previous day’s gains, largely steered by domestic transaction flows where there was a marginal preference for acquiring US dollars, all set against the backdrop of the upcoming holiday pause in the United States,” he told Bernama.

US markets are closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving. Trading resumes on Friday but will end earlier.

The ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

It weakened versus the British pound to 5.6217/6280 from 5.5962/6044 and slipped against the euro to 4.6800/6852 from 4.6691/6759 yesterday, but rose vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 2.9258/9293 from 2.9311/9356.

The local unit also traded mostly lower against ASEAN currencies.

It was almost flat against the Singapore dollar at 3.3056/3095 versus 3.3055/3106 yesterday and fell against the Indonesian rupiah to 279.9/280.5 from 278.6/279.1 previously.

It went down versus the Thai baht to 12.8999/9211 from 12.8342/8597 on Wednesday and dipped against the Philippine peso to 7.57/7.58 from 7.56/7.57.

-- BERNAMA