Malaysian Ringgit Falls To 9-day Low Against U.S. Dollar

The Malaysian ringgit weakened against the U.S. dollar in the Asian session on Thursday, as no enough progress was achieved on Greek debt talks about a bailout plan at the Euro group meeting late Wednesday.

Meanwhile, data from the Department of Statistics showed that Malaysia's economic growth advanced 5.8 percent year-on-year in the three months ended in December, faster than the previous quarter's 5.6 percent growth. Economists had expected the economy to expand at a slower pace of 5.0 percent.

Another report from the statistical office showed that the current account surplus of the nation fell to MYR 6.1 billion the fourth quarter from MYR 7.6 billion in the prior quarter. A year earlier, the surplus was at MYR 14.8 billion.

Against the greenback, the ringgit fell to a 9-day low of 3.6305 from yesterday's closing quote of 3.6005.

If the ringgit extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around the 3.62 area.