By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 -- The ringgit further declined against the US dollar at the close today despite the weakening of the greenback, said an analyst. 

At 6 pm, the local currency stood at 4.0420/0450 against the US dollar from Monday’s close of 4.0400/0450.

The analyst said the US dollar volatility came as Bank of America warned of a potential stock market bubble.

“This has led investors to exit the US market temporarily and shift to emerging market as regional currencies are outperforming market expectations, thus improving risk appetite of investors.

“The situation should be favourable for the ringgit amid firmer oil prices and good export numbers, but it still lacks buying support and confidence from investors,” she told Bernama. 

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

It dropped against the Singapore dollar to 3.0591/0618 from 3.0523/0572 on Monday and eased versus the Japanese yen to 3.8393/8425 from 3.8229/8290.

The local currency was down vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9106/9147 from yesterday’s 4.8912/8981 and weakened against the British pound to 5.6948/6998 from 5.6613/6691. 

-- BERNAMA