By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (Bernama) -- The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar today due to a stronger US Dollar Index (DXY) after the Moody’s Ratings downgrade.

At 6 pm, the local note eased to 4.2705/2765 versus the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.2685/2735.

 Bank Muamalat  Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit maintained its positive trend in the morning session when the USD/MYR touched as low as RM4.2455 before weakening by the end of the day.

“The DXY has been lingering below 100 points as fear over fiscal burden has resulted in traders and investors shunning the US dollar.

"The recent rating downgrade by Moody’s Ratings has compounded the effect as the new US administration is pushing for a tax cut bill that could worsen the US government debt level,” he told Bernama. 

At the close, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It inched up against the British pound to 5.7212/7292 from 5.7241/7308, and appreciated vis-à-vis the euro to 4.8218/8286 from yesterday’s 4.8379/8436, but fell versus the Japanese yen to 2.9768/9812 from yesterday’s 2.9642/9679.

The local note traded mixed against its ASEAN peers.

It improved against the Singapore dollar to 3.3061/3110 from 3.3071/3115, and strengthened against the Thai baht to 13.0000/0254 from yesterday’s 13.0121/0353.

However, the ringgit went down vis-à-vis the Philippine peso to 7.68/7.69 from 7.67/7.68 on Wednesday and slipped against the Indonesian rupiah to 261.5/262.0 from 260.2/260.7 previously. 

-- BERNAMA