KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit has maintained its uptrend against the US dollar in the early session today as growing concerns over global economic developments saw more investors shifting away from the safe havens, dealers said.
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At 9.15 am, the local note rose to 4.4680/4710 versus the greenback compared with yesterday’s closing rate of 4.4690/4715.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US dollar had slipped against the ringgit on Tuesday, ahead of the closely watched United States (US) interest rate decision.
“The market is quite divided as to what the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is most likely to do tomorrow. One possibility is an increase in interest rates since inflation is high and unemployment is low.
“But one of the issues with this stance is that it can add even more pressure on the banking sector, and a crisis of confidence in banks tends to be worse than inflation,” he told Bernama.
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Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note rose versus the British pound to 5.4590/4627 from 5.4759/4789 at yesterday’s close, appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.3736/3761 from 3.3807/3829 but slipped vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8111/8144 from 4.8028/8055 previously.
At the same time, the ringgit was traded mixed against Asean currencies.
The local currency strengthened against the Thai baht to 12.9425/9575 from 13.0166/0311 on Tuesday and inched up versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3418/3446 from 3.3423/3444, but remained unchanged against the Indonesian rupiah at 291.10/291.50 and versus the Philippines peso at 8.21/8.22. – Bernama