Ringgit Weakens Against USD on Strong US Economic Data
The ringgit has weakened against the US dollar on Thursday due to stronger-than-expected US economic data. According to Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd's chief economist, the final gross domestic product growth for the second quarter of 2026 came in at 2.2 per cent, above the consensus estimate of 1.5 per cent.
The Automatic Data Processing (ADP) employment change also rose to 90,000 in September, ahead of the market estimate of 73,000. This has led to a decrease in the odds of a rate hike in October from more than 70 per cent to below 50 per cent.
Despite this, Dr Afzanizam said that markets have reassessed their stance towards a rate hike in October, but it is not totally off the table. The ringgit is expected to trade between RM4.08 and RM4.09 today ahead of the release of US non-farm payrolls (NFP) data on Friday.