By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 -- The ringgit closed lower against the US dollar today on negative investor sentiment and weaker oil prices, analysts said.

At 6pm, the local note stood at 4.3500/3650 against the greenback compared with Tuesday's close of 4.3150/3250.

AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes told Bernama that the risk reversal in the global markets was fairly intense today, triggering a reversal of fortunes for Asian currencies.

He said the struggling equity market and the weaker oil prices had affected the local note’s performance.

Another analyst attributed the weaker oil prices to the significant drop in demand and oversupply in the market, as consumption level plunged due to the lockdown by governments to stop the spread of the COVID-19. 

At press time, benchmark Brent crude fell 4.67 per cent to US$25.12 per barrel. 

Meanwhile, the ringgit also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

It fell against the Singapore dollar at 3.0341/0454 from 3.0240/0325 at Tuesday's close and eased vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7554/7731 compared to 4.7353/7480 yesterday.

The local unit also depreciated against the British pound to 5.3762/3964 from 5.3282/3427 and declined versus the Japanese yen to 4.0416/0567 from 3.9773/9876 on Tuesday.

-- BERNAMA