RINGGIT CLOSES LOWER VS USD ON IMPORT TARIFF CONCERNS

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- The ringgit closed lower against the US dollar for the third consecutive day as concerns over the impact of the United States (US) import tariff on steel and aluminium industries supported the greenback.

At 6 pm, the ringgit slid to 4.4680/4730 against the greenback from last Friday’s close of 4.4375/4420.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted that US President Donald Trump's administration will impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from all countries.

“The move will certainly result in greater uncertainties in the currency market, with the US dollar continuing to be in high demand,” he told Bernama.

Additionally, he said the stable US labour market conditions also lent strong support to the greenback.

It was reported that the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose by a lower-than-expected 143,000 in January versus consensus estimates of 170,000.

However, December’s NFP was revised upwards, from 256,000 to 307,000, while the unemployment rate fell further to 4.0 per cent in January from 4.1 per cent in the preceding month, suggesting that the US labour market remains resilient. 

Mohd Afzanizam said for this week, the focus will be on the US Federal Reserve (Fed) chair, Jerome Powell’s testimony to the US Congress, which will shed more light on how the Fed will asses the current policy changes in respect to tariff and the impact it may have on the broader US economy.

“It is likely that the Fed will maintain its restrictive stance and is not about to cut the interest rate further in the first half of this year,” he added.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against other major currencies.  

It fell against the Japanese yen to 2.9352/9387 from 2.9217/9249 at the close last Friday, slipped against the euro to 4.6128/6179 from 4.6101/6148 last week, and depreciated against the British pound to 5.5430/5492 from 5.5278/5334 previously.  

The local note was almost weaker against ASEAN currencies.  

It was lower against the Singapore dollar to 3.3006/3048 from 3.2866/2901 at the close last Friday,  declined against the Indonesian rupiah to 273.1/273.5 from 272.4/272.9 last week and eased against the Philippines’ peso to 7.69/7.70 from last Friday’s close of 7.65/7.66. 

However, the ringgit strengthened against the Thai baht to 13.1768/1986 from 13.1853/2041 previously.  

-- BERNAMA