Ringgit Seen Hovering Around Current Level Next Week

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 (Bernama) -- The ringgit is expected to stay at the current levels of 4.43 to 4.45 against the greenback next week amid caution as a series of US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials will speak publicly on the American economy.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the market spotlight will be on Fed chairman Jerome Powell's speech during the Jackson Hole Symposium next Friday.

“At the current juncture, all data point to an eventual rate cut in the upcoming  US Federal Open Market Committee meeting in September. The main issue is about the quantum of the rate cut and the ability of the Fed to engineer a soft landing as talks of a possible US recession tend to resurface now and then,” he told Bernama.

For the week just ended, the ringgit traded firmly on the expectation of a robust expansion of the Malaysian economy, which recorded 5.9 per cent growth in the second quarter, beating expectations. It revisited the 4.41 level against the US dollar on Wednesday, the strongest level in 16 months.

However, on a Friday-to-Friday basis, the ringgit slid to 4.4295/4350 against the US dollar from 4.4200/4280 a week ago. The local unit also traded mostly down against other major currencies.

It was down versus the euro to 4.8680/8741 from 4.8253/8340, depreciated against the British pound to 5.7167/7238 from 5.6373/6475 but strengthened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 2.9792/9833 from 3.0019/0075 a week earlier.

The ringgit also slipped against ASEAN currencies.

It dropped vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3582/3627 from 3.3381/3444 and went down versus the Thai baht to 12.6445/6656 from 12.5234/5514 last Friday. The local note also slipped against the Philippine peso to 7.74/7.75 compared with 7.71/7.73 a week earlier and declined versus the Indonesian rupiah to 282.2/282.7 from 277.5/278.2.

-- BERNAMA