KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened a tad decrease in opposition to the US greenback immediately after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) stored its benchmark rate of interest unchanged.
At 9am, the ringgit opened at 4.7705/4.7775 in opposition to the dollar from Tuesday’s shut of 4.7700/4.7750.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid mentioned the Fed’s two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) assembly concluded on Wednesday with the Fed conserving the rate of interest regular at 5.50% because of an absence of progress in direction of reaching its 2% inflation goal.
“At the identical time, the choice to lift curiosity rates was not on the desk, with the Fed emphasising the necessity to assess incoming knowledge earlier than any determination may be made. In that sense, the higher for longer (rate of interest narrative) nonetheless holds however the downward bias on rates is undamaged,” he added.
He mentioned that it’s extra a query of when the Fed will begin to ease the financial coverage stance.
“Consequently, the two-year observe yield, which is delicate to the Fed Funds Rate, fell seven foundation factors to 4.96% whereas the US Dollar Index dropped 0.44% to 105.755 factors,” he famous.
At the opening, the ringgit was traded principally higher in opposition to a basket of main currencies.
The ringgit rose vis-a-vis the British pound to five.9755/5.9843 from 5.9835/5.9898 beforehand and rebounded in opposition to the euro to five.1097/5.1172 from 5.1163/5.1217. However, it fell versus the Japanese yen to three.0572/3.0621 from 3.0396/3.0430 at Tuesday’s shut.
At the identical time, the native observe traded simpler in opposition to Asean currencies.
It depreciated additional versus the Thai baht to 12.8800/12.9038 from 12.8689/12.8869 on Tuesday and was nearly unchanged vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah at 293.3/293.9 from 293.3/293.8 beforehand.
It weakened in opposition to the Philippine peso to eight.26/8.28 from 8.25/8.27 and fell versus the Singapore greenback to three.5049/3.5103 from 3.5045/3.5084.
