KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar today following expectations that the United States (US) Federal Reserve (Fed) will slow the pace of interest rate hikes until the end of the year.
At 9.04am, the local currency rose to 4.7020/7070 against the greenback from Wednesday's close of 4.7120/7165.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said after seven months of relentless gains, the greenback started a strong bearish move in tandem with the US New Home Sales data which fell by 10.9 per cent to 603,000 units in September from 677,000 units in August.
“The data came in a little higher than expected (603,000 real versus 585,000 forecast), but that was not enough to support the dollar against the ringgit,” he told Bernama.
He added that it is possible that the USD/MYR pair will continue its bearish move over the next few days until it touches the 4.6290 region, where it may find temporary support.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note slipped against the British pound to 5.4703/4761 from 5.4523/4575 at Wednesday's close and eased versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3485/3526 from 3.3454/3491 yesterday.
It had also depreciated against the Japanese yen at 3.2190/2226 from 3.2020/2052 at yesterday’s close and slid vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7401/7451 from 4.7243/7288 previously. — Bernama
