Sarawak Locks Down, Finance Ministry Lists Risks To Economic Recovery

Spot USD/MYR re-opened roughly where it wrapped up on Thursday. The rate last trades +15 pips at MYR4.1418, still within Thursday's range.

• From a technical perspective, bulls look for a move through May 24 high of MYR4.1497, towards Mar 31 high of MYR4.1590. Conversely, a slide through the 50-DMA at MYR4.1390 would open up the 200-DMA at MYR4.1094.
• The Finance Ministry listed uncertainty over the prolonged Covid-19 outbreak, vaccine supply disruptions and commodity price shocks as key downside risks to Malaysia's economic recovery. The Ministry has estimated that the recent tightening of Covid-19 curbs will have an impact of less than 1% on domestic GDP growth.
• The authorities imposed a statewide lockdown in Sarawak (i.e. Malaysia's largest state) from May 29 through Jun 11 to arrest the spread of new Covid-19 infections.
• Pressure is mounting on PM Muhyiddin to allow parliament to reconvene, as many have grown disillusioned with its failure to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. Dep Speaker of the House of Reps from UMNO tweeted that "we cannot afford to be in a state of emergency forever".
• Malaysia's trade balance will grab attention later today.