KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index closed lower on Thursday amid profit-taking in big-cap stocks, as investors shifted their focus to smaller-cap counters against the backdrop of weaker regional market performance. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.26 points or 0.43 per cent to 1,669.57 from Wednesday’s close of 1,676.83. The FBM KLCI opened 2.61 points lower at 1,674.22 and moved between 1,666.34 and 1,674.44 throughout the day. On the broader market, gainers led losers by 579 to 489, while 565 counters were unchanged, 1,016 untraded, and 12 suspended. Turnover was slightly higher at 2.79 billion units worth RM2.84 billion from Wednesday’s 2.73 billion units worth RM2.76 billion.
The Ringgit weakened against the USD and this trend seems to continue and show no sign of slowing down.
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| USD against MYR currency |
A quick search on google will show you this and it's scary because the spike doesn't seem to slow down and there's no sign of it any time soon.
And to make matters worse, the BNM International Reserve as of July 2015 has shrunk below US$100 billion.
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| BNM International Reserves shrunk below US$100 billion |
To put into perspective, this is the first time that the reserve has fall below this level since August 2010.
The central bank gave a statement today and said the reserves' position is sufficient to finance 7.6 months of retained imports and is 1.1 times the short-term external debt.
The concern on the Ringgit currency is real as it has depreciated for 8 consecutive days.
The local currency slipped further today to 3.9265 against the US dollar — the lowest level in 17 years — compared with Thursday's closing of 3.9125.
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