Ringgit ends softer against US dollar on Fed rate cut uncertainty

At the close, the ringgit was mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except the Japanese yen.

KUALA LUMPUR:

 The ringgit continued to close lower against the US dollar on Wednesday, with uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate direction weighing on the local currency.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said mixed signals from Fed officials continued to lend support to the US dollar.

“The US dollar-ringgit pair surpassed the RM4.20 level as the US Dollar Index rose 0.16% to 97.419 points,” he told Bernama, adding that this weighed on the ringgit and other regional currencies.

At the close, the ringgit was mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except the Japanese yen.

At 6pm, the local note weakened to 4.2120/4.2170 against the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.1985/4.2000.

It strengthened to 2.8400/2.8436 against the Japanese yen from 2.8441/2.8453, but eased to 5.6761/5.6828 versus the British pound from 5.6701/5.6721 and slipped to 4.9567/4.9626 against the euro from 4.9546/4.9564 previously.

The local note was mixed against Asean currencies.

It appreciated to 13.1572/13.1781 against the Thai baht from 13.1900/13.2001, but weakened to 3.2743/3.2784 versus the Singapore dollar from 3.2724/3.2738, and declined to 252.4/252.8 against the Indonesian rupiah from 251.5/251.8.

It was flat against the Philippine peso at 7.33/7.34 compared with 7.33/7.33 yesterday. - FMT