In February, Ringgit weakened against most currencies
Although the local currency registered strong gains against the Turkish lira (+2.6%mom) and Japanese yen (+1.9%mom) in Feb-24, the Ringgit mostly depreciated against other currencies.
Against major currencies, the ringgit also depreciated against the euro and the pound sterling, both by -0.2%mom.
Ringgit weakened
Other currencies depreciated against the USD in Feb-24, except for selected currencies namely the Indonesian rupiah (+0.4%mom), the South Korean won (+0.2%mom), the Indian rupee (-0.2%mom), and the Philippine peso (+0.1%mom).
Ringgit which depreciated – 0.2%mom did not depreciate as steeply as other currencies, with only the euro (-0.1%mom) depreciating softer among the currencies which weakened against the USD.
“In terms of foreign holding of Malaysian bonds, the latest data as of Jan-24 saw a decline of -RM5.1b to RM265.3b (Jan-24: RM270.4b). We opine that outflow from the bond market might have persisted into the Feb-24 given rising MGS yields and weakening ringgit.
“In other words, we believe the bond market outflow contributed to the weakening of ringgit amid another month of inflows of foreign funds into the local equity market,” says MIDF.
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