KUALA LUMPUR (May 26): The ringgit opened marginally higher against the US dollar on Thursday (May 26) in the absence of hawkish surprises from the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes.
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At 9.01am, the local note stood at 4.3920/3960 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close at 4.3930/3960.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said during the FOMC meeting on May 3-4, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials agreed that they need to raise interest rates by 50 basis points in the next two meetings in June and July as an aggressive move to curb inflation.
He said this should contain any local weakness from the Fed side, especially with global equities rebounding.
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“Thus, the regional focus remains on China and its plans in the reopening of its economy, as well as further policy easing which could have a beneficial impact on regional foreign exchange, including the ringgit,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note had depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1977/2008 from Wednesday’s close at 3.1947/1971, slid versus the British pound to 5.5366/5416 from 5.4908/4946, and decreased versus the euro to 4.7008/7050 from 4.6895/6927.
However, the ringgit rose vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.4452/4487 from 3.4563/4590 at Wednesday’s close.-BERNAMA