After opening at RM4.267 to the USD when trading opened this morning – the ringgit closed at RM4.270 to the dollar yesterday – the ringgit dropped by more than RM0.20, about 3.5 per cent, in the first two hours of trading.
According to the currency exchange website XE.com, the ringgit was trading at RM4.484 against the US dollar as at 11am.
It had also dropped by RM0.15 against the Singapore dollar in the first two hours, to trade at RM3.179 as at 11am, compared with RM3.0209 when trading opened today.
Similarly, the ringgit jumped from RM5.350 to RM5.634 against the British pound, and RM4.645 to 4.887 against the euro.
Reuters has reported emerging Asian currencies as dropping against the US dollar after the US currency recovered from the initial negative reaction to the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.
“The Malaysian ringgit posted the largest short positions since late May. The ringgit fell to its weakest in more than nine months as the government bond prices lost ground,” Reuters said.
Other regional emerging market currencies losing ground are the Philippine peso, which hit a seven-year low on Wednesday, and the Indonesian rupiah.