A customer counts her ringgit notes outside a money changer at the central business district in Singapore August 25, 2015.
Malaysian ringgit top loser among Asian FX in first-half, equities mixed
The Malaysian ringgit hit a fresh pre-peg 17-year low on Monday as sustained worries about China's economy dented global risk appetite with European and Wall Street stocks suffering their largest one-day drop in nearly four years. REUTERS/Edgar Su - RTX1PJJ9
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For the first-half, the ringgit was the biggest loser in emerging Asia, losing 5.8% weighed by capital outflows
Nausheen Thusoo, Reuters News
June 30, 2023
The Malaysian ringgit was set to log a near-6% decline in the first-half of 2023, leading losses among emerging Asian currencies, while equities in Malaysia and Thailand were the biggest losers in a mixed market.
On Friday, most Asian currencies recovered losses from earlier in the day, with the Philippine peso and Thai baht leading gains with a 0.4% appreciation each.
For the first-half, the ringgit was the biggest loser in emerging Asia, losing 5.8% weighed by capital outflows. It was last trading at 4.670 per dollar, hovering close to a near eight-month low.
"Malaysian ringgit has been an underperformer in Asia given sustained foreign equity outflows. That said, a pick-up in growth could turn around sentiment, and we could see USDMYR consolidating around 4.60-4.70 levels in 2H 2023," Wei Liang Chang, a macro strategist at DBS Bank said.
Equities in Malaysia were set to lose 7.7% for the period, and were among the worst performers in the region.
Next week, the Bank Negara Malaysia will meet to decide on its monetary policy. Analysts at Barclays expect the central bank to leave its benchmark rate unchanged.
https://www.zawya.com/en/markets/equities/m...-mixed-c5d96lwl