Ringgit Opens Slightly Higher Vs US Dollar Amid Mixed Fed Signals

By Harizah Hanim Mohamed

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- The ringgit opened slightly firmer against the US dollar on Monday, though sentiment stayed guarded as conflicting remarks from US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials left investors uncertain about the greenback’s near-term direction.

At 8 am, the ringgit strengthened to 4.1435/1590 against the US dollar, up from last Friday’s close of 4.1460/1495.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, said senior Fed officials had offered differing views on the outlook for interest rates.

“The Boston Fed president appeared reluctant to support a rate cut in December, citing mixed signals from the labour market and inflation risks. Meanwhile, the New York Fed president suggested that the current monetary policy stance is restrictive, indicating there may be room for a cut in the benchmark interest rate,” he told Bernama.

He added that the ringgit is expected to trade in a narrow range of between RM4.14 and RM4.15 today.

At the opening, the ringgit was mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It strengthened versus the yen to 2.6447/6548 from 2.6453/6479 at last Friday’s close and improved against the euro to 4.7679/7858 from 4.7779/7819. The local note, however, was marginally weaker against the British pound at 5.4263/4466, compared with 5.4143/4188 previously.

The ringgit traded mixed against ASEAN currencies.

It eased against the Thai baht to 12.7649/8230 from 12.7601/7759, and appreciated versus the Indonesian rupiah to 247.8/248.9 from 248.0/248.3. It remained flat against the Philippine peso at 7.04/7.07 from 7.04/7.05 and was largely unchanged versus the Singapore dollar at 3.1695/1816, compared with 3.1695/1724 on Friday.

-- BERNAMA