By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- The ringgit continued to close marginally lower against the US dollar for the second consecutive day.

This comes ahead of the United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next week and the growing concern on surging Omicron cases in China, said an analyst. 

At 6 pm, the local note fell slightly to 4.3960/4000 against the greenback from 4.3950/4000 at Wednesday’s close.

Nevertheless, SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said Chinese and Asean equities, commodities, commodity currencies, and exporters of consumer goods and tourism services could significantly benefit once China reopens.

“If you asked me to pick an Asean currency that would benefit in that environment, it is the ringgit but there are short-term concerns about skyrocketing Omicron cases in China as its zero-COVID policy hits the off-ramp,” he told Bernama.

Therefore, he expects the local note to trade a bit bumpy until the FOMC meeting next week.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies at today’s close.

The local note depreciated against the British pound to 5.3504/3552 from 5.3320/3381 at Wednesday’s close and slid vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6127/6169 from 4.6055/6108 yesterday.

It had also weakened versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2381/2415 from 3.2323/2365 on Wednesday and shed against the Japanese yen to 3.2090/2121 from 3.1936/1974 previously. 

— BERNAMA