Ringgit closes marginally higher ahead of US Fed minutes release

 

KUALA LUMPUR: 

The ringgit closed marginally higher against the US dollar today, ahead of the release of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) September meeting minutes later tonight, which will offer more clarity on its interest rate-cutting trajectory.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the next data point to look out for is the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) tomorrow, which is expected to moderate to 2.3% in September from consensus estimates of 2.5%.

In the interim, traders and investors are expected to remain cautious as the Fed mulls on its monetary easing approach,

 he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the local note rose to 4.2800/4.2830 versus the greenback compared to yesterday’s close of 4.2850/4.2895.

At the close, the ringgit traded higher against major currencies.

It strengthened versus the euro to 4.6939/4.6972 from 4.7079/4.7129 at yesterday’s close, was higher against the Japanese yen at 2.8792/2.8815 from 2.8988/2.9022, and improved vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.6012/5.6052 from 5.6108/5.6167.

The local note performed mixed versus Asean currencies.

It was higher versus the Singapore dollar at 3.2822/3.2848 from 3.2876/3.2913 at yesterday’s close and went up vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 7.50/7.52 from 7.53/7.54.

It was weaker against the Thai baht at 12.8010/12.8157 from 12.7933/12.8129 yesterday and slipped against the Indonesian rupiah to 273.8/274.1 compared with yesterday’s close of 273.6/274.1. - FMT