KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar this morning as demand for the local currency moderated on the back of a stronger greenback, an economist said.
At 9am, the local note eased to 4.2255/2300 versus the US dollar from 4.2195/2230 at 6 pm on Friday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit would oscillate around RM4.22 level this week with market players likely to pay close attention to the US inflation.
He also said the Fed’s March 15-16 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, which showed that the US policymakers remained consistent in their monetary tightening stand, would certainly help bolster the value of the greenback.
“The ringgit is expected to remain rangebound as the US dollar is likely to rise following improving economic data along with a hawkish stance by the Federal Reserve (Fed),” he told Bernama.
Mohd Afzanizam said this week would be a busy week of a series of meetings for central banks such as the Bank of Canada, European Central Bank and Bank of Korea that will decide their monetary policy.
He said Fed officials would be speaking during this week along with the release of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is expected to rise by 8.3 per cent based on consensus estimates.
“This would bolster the case for aggressive tightening by the Fed,” he reckoned.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 3.3913/3951 from 3.4004/4034 on Friday and strengthened versus the British pound to 5.5024/5083 from 5.5026/5072.
The local unit, however, depreciated vis-a-vis Singapore dollar to 3.0970/1007 from Friday’s 3.0953/0981 and weakened against the euro to 4.6011/6060 from 4.5858/5896. — Bernama
