Ringgit set for 2nd weekly loss

Malaysia’s ringgit was poised for a second weekly decline as concern
Europe’s debt crisis will worsen sapped demand for emerging-market
assets.

Exports from Southeast Asia’s third-biggest economy
increased 15.8 percent in October from a year earlier, slowing from
growth of 16.6 percent in September, government data showed on Dec. 9.

The currency snapped a six-day losing streak today after U.S. data on jobless claims and manufacturing beat estimates.

“Like
other Asian currencies, the ringgit has also been under downward
pressure due to the European crisis,” said Tohru Nishihama, an economist
at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc. in Tokyo. “The better U.S.
data is a bit supportive of the ringgit.”





The ringgit slumped 0.9 percent this week to 3.1785 per dollar as of
9:06 a.m. in Kuala Lumpur, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It
advanced 0.4 percent today.

The number of applications for
unemployment payments in the U.S. dropped by 19,000 to 366,000 in the
week ended Dec. 10, less than the lowest forecast of economists surveyed
by Bloomberg News and the least since May 2008, according to Labor
Department figures.

Manufacturing in the regions covered by the
Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Philadelphia accelerated more than
forecast in December as orders and employment grew. - Bloomberg