RM at historical low against SGD
KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit slumped to its historical low against the  Singapore dollar to close at 2.6214 yesterday, declining further from  last Friday’s close of 2.6066. Experts are speculating that the local  currency will continue to weaken for at least another two to three  months before recovering.
 It has been reported that the ringgit’s  decline has created a rush for it, with money changers in Johor  recently seeing a surge in demand from Singapore visitors ahead of the  Chinese New Year holiday period.
 At 5pm, the ringgit had  depreciated 0.03% to close at 3.3468 against the greenback. It briefly  touched 3.3485 in the early trade, which was the lowest level since May  26, 2010. The ringgit traded lower against the euro to close at 4.5844  from 4.5004 last Friday, but appreciated against the yen to 3.2661 from  3.2578 last week.
 The fall of the ringgit comes amid the overall  decline in regional bourses ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee  (FOMC) meeting today and tomorrow, which is expected to further  deliberate on the quantitative easing (QE) tapering schedule, said  currency traders.
 In a nutshell, the prospect of further cuts in US stimulus has affected sentiment for emerging market assets.
 Ambank  Group currency strategist Wong Chee Seng told The Edge Financial Daily  the weakening of the ringgit is likely to continue for the next two to  three months.
 “The ringgit is subject to a combination of  factors, such as the strengthening of the Singapore dollar and the  selling pressure in the emerging markets,” he said, noting that  Singapore’s strong policies have also made it harder for the ringgit to  bounce back.
 In a report yesterday, MIDF Research said foreign  funds have sold a net RM1.26 billion worth of Malaysian stocks on the  open market (excluding off-market transactions) last week.
 “That  was the highest since the week ended Nov 15, 2013. It was also the sixth  week since August 2011 that the amount of outflow exceeded RM1  billion,” it wrote, adding that so far in 2014, a total of RM2.8 billion  has exited Malaysian equities.
 In the last 16 weeks, meanwhile,  RM8.48 billion in foreign money has exited Malaysian equities, or an  average of RM530 million a week, MIDF said.
 Southeast Asia’s  largest lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd senior currency economist Philip  Wee told The Edge Financial Daily that the ringgit is currently trading  at the levels of the 1997 and 1998 Asian financial crisis.
 “The  impact on the ringgit is not surprising as the currency has been  declining [against the Singapore dollar] since 2002,” he said.
 Ahead  of the long holiday break, M&A Securities Sdn Bhd Rosnani Rasul in a  note yesterday said this week is predicted to be filled with cautious  sentiment.
 “First of all, it will be a shorter trading week in  conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration. Bursa Malaysia will  be operating on 3.5 days instead of the usual 5-day week swing,” she  said.
 She also noted that US  Federal Reserve will be issuing its policy rates decision along with its  tapering timeline on Thursday, which will single-handedly stoke trading  fear among investors as acceleration in tapering would mean further  profit taking and withdrawal from emerging markets.
 This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 28, 2014.