SINGAPORE – The Malaysian ringgit sank to a one-year low against the Singapore dollar on Tuesday (Nov 22), with S$1 worth RM3.1206 around noon, according to Bloomberg data.
Against the US dollar, the ringgit fell to 4.4327, its weakest since January.
Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, has been hit by a rout as investors dumped assets in emerging markets after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
The ringgit has weakened more than 5 per cent against the US dollar since the election on Nov 8, while the local benchmark stock index has shed more than 2 per cent.
Malaysia’s central bank has ordered foreign banks to stop offshore speculation in the ringgit, warning of “prompt supervisory intervention” against those trading the ringgit in the non-deliverable forwards market.
Foreign banks have also been told to provide a detailed plan to the central bank if they need to make ringgit transactions onshore and to seek help from Malaysian financial institutions for any foreign exchange transaction needs.
Analysts said earlier this year that the ringgit could be hamstrung by political risks, external investigations into the country’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, as well as global oil prices.
