KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today, ahead of the release of the United States (US) Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes as well as the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest global projection this week, said an analyst.
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At 9 am, the local note fell to 4.4035/4105 versus the greenback from last Friday’s closing rate of 4.3995/4035.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted that IMF chief Kristalina Georgiva has been quite pessimistic about the economic outlook for the next five years.
“Georgiva stated that robust global growth remains an uphill task due to higher interest rates and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“As such, the USD/MYR is likely to trade within a narrow range today, possibly around RM4.40-RM4.41,” he said to Bernama.
He added that market players are also waiting for the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, which will be released on Wednesday.
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Mohd Afzanizam noted that the ringgit has appreciated since early March and technical charts showed that the ringgit is in the overbought position.
“If the US Federal Reserve’s tone becomes more dovish, there is a chance that the ringgit could appreciate further. Otherwise, it might stay within the current range or even stage some correction,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies but was flat vis-a-vis the euro at 4.8016/8092 from 4.8016/8060 at the close last Friday.
It appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.3201/3259 compared with 3.3411/3443 at last Friday’s close and went up versus the British pound to 5.4674/4761 from 5.4730/4780 previously.
Concurrently, the ringgit traded mixed against Asean currencies.
The ringgit edged up against the Thai baht to 12.8487/8759 from 12.9090/9279 last week and improved versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3062/3119 from 3.3079/3114 previously.
However, the local note was lower compared with the Indonesian rupiah at 295.20/295.80 from 295.00/295.30 last Friday and weakened against the Philippine peso at 8.09/8.11 from 8.08/8.09 previously. – Bernama