With inflation in the United States breaking through a 40-year high in June, that is, a level of 9.1%, expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by 75 basis points by the end of July have increased. US dollar continued to move higher and this led to a weakening of other currencies around the world.
Malaysian ringgit wrote a five-year low against the US dollar on 19 July, with the Malaysian dollar depreciating by 0.08% to the US dollar, or RM4.4575 to exchange for one US dollar. This is a new low level since March 2017.
Malaysian ringgit also hit a level of 3.1901 against the Singapore dollar, compared to only 3.1841 yesterday.
As at 19 July, Brent crude oil cost US$106.80 per barrel, while New York crude oil cost US$103.21 per barrel. The price of Malaysian palm oil was RM3,631.50 per tonne.
