KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): AmBank Group Research expects the ringgit (MYR) to trade within its support levels of 3.9734 and 3.9772 while the resistance levels are to hover around 3.9903 and 4.0010.

In his AMBankFXDaily note today, Ambank group chief economist and head of research Dr Anthony Dass said with the high speed rail project scrapped, it has raised questions about the government’s commitments to other big infrastructure projects, including those being pushed by China.

“While the previous government was a big proponent of China's Belt and Road initiative, our fear has always been that the Belt and Road projects may pile debt onto smaller countries and end up putting China in a strong position to influence their strategic decisions or even gain control of important infrastructure,” he said.

Dass said the MYR fell 0.03% to 3.9823 against the stronger dollar.

He said selling pressure continued in KLCI which fell by 1.2% to 1,775.84 with a net foreign outflow of RM216.5 million.

“In the local bond space, the 5-, 7- and 10-year Malaysian Government Securities yields remained unchanged at 3.880%, 4.060% and 4.250%, respectively.

“Meanwhile, the prices for crude oils were mixed i.e. WTI down 1.5% to US$66.84/barrel while Brent up 0.1% to US$75.36/barrel.

“The MYR strengthened against the regional currencies - Singapore dollar by 0.5% to 2.9568, peso by 0.4% to 13.2297 and baht by 0.3% to 8.0348 but weakened against rupiah by 1.0% to 3514.13. The 5-year CDS rose 1.78% to 84.79,” he said.