Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the statistics department’s advance GDP estimates indicated the country’s economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace of 4.4% in Q1 2025.
“The lower estimates suggest that downside risks to economic growth have become elevated, especially for the second half of the year due to the anticipated US tariff,” he told Bernama.
Afzanizam noted that US president Donald Trump has indicated that he is reluctant to keep raising the tariffs against China as it might impact trade between the two nations.
“It remains to be seen whether such remarks would have a material impact on market sentiment in view of the policy inconsistencies,” he said.
Afzanizam said the US dollar-ringgit pair was traded at RM4.41 while the US Dollar Index (DXY) stayed below the 100-point level.
Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the local note traded lower today, trailing against other Asian countries after last week’s tariff hike scenario involving China.
“However, after the initial drop, markets stabilised as traders shifted to a wait-and-see approach, with attention turning to the outcome of the US-Japan trade negotiations,” he said.
He said these talks are seen as a key indicator not only of Trump’s demands on Tokyo but also of the potential pressure he may put on other allied nations moving forward.
At 6pm, the local note depreciated to 4.4100/4.4175 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4050/4.4095.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It dropped versus the Japanese yen to 3.0971/3.1028 from 3.0849/3.0883 at the close yesterday, eased against the British pound to 5.8516/5.8616 from 5.8331/5.8391, and inched down vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0133/5.0218 from 5.0102/5.0154 previously.
The local note performed mixed against Asean currencies.
It gained against the Thai baht to 13.1815/13.2154 from 13.2211/13.2417 at yesterday’s close, and it firmed versus the Indonesian rupiah to 261.2/261.8 compared to 261.6/262 previously.
However, the local note traded flat against the Philippine peso at 7.77/7.79 and retreated vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3603/3.3667 from 3.3562/3.3601 at yesterday’s close.