SINGAPORE: The Malaysian ringgit hit a five-year low against the dollar on a disappointing trade data on Friday, leading weekly losses among emerging Asian currencies.
Most regional units rose for the day on short-covering ahead of a US jobs data to be released at 1330 GMT.
Malaysia's exports in October fell 3.1 percent from a year earlier, contracting more than expected and for the first time since June 2013, as shipments of petroleum products and palm oil eased, data showed.
"It does continue the concerning trend that drives our fundamentally bearish view on MYR," Sacha Tihanyi, a senior currency strategist for Scotiabank, said in a research note.
"We suspect that the impact of Malaysia's rapidly turning terms of trade will continue to make itself felt out through the next year," Tihanyi said.
The ringgit fell as much as 0.7 percent to 3.4710 per dollar after the data, its weakest since October 2009. It pared some of the losses with the central bank spotted intervening to support the currency.
The Malaysian currency also fell to 2.6407 against the neighbouring Singapore dollar, its lowest since January 1998.
RINGGIT'S WORST WEEK IN 1-1/2 YEARS
The ringgit has lost 2.5 percent against the US dollar so far this week, which would be the largest weekly loss since June 2013, Reuters data showed.
For the year so far, the ringgit's 5.6 percent depreciation makes it the worst-performing emerging Asian currency.
Malaysia's status as a net oil export means low world oil prices have put both its current account and fiscal deficit under pressure.
Singapore's dollar has slid 0.9 percent this week amid a slowing economy and inflation. The Indonesian rupiah slid 0.8 percent this week on year-end corporate dollar demand.
The South Korean won ended the week down 0.6 percent in the local market, stalking the yen's slide past 120 per dollar. The Taiwan dollar fell 0.5 percent.
The Philippine peso bucked the regional depreciation as capital inflows lifted the currency up 0.8 percent this week.
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