KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit seemed to be experiencing a technical correction today, closing lower versus the US dollar after appreciating steeply in the past few days, said an analyst.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said technical readings showed that the ringgit was already in an overbought position.
Moving forward, he said, investors would be focussing on the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting on March 19 and 20.
“The critical part about the meeting is the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) latest projections on macroeconomic variables, especially the Federal Funds Rate.
“In December, the Fed projected three rate cuts this year. We shall see whether the Fed will alter its forecast, especially after taking into consideration the latest data point,” Afzanizam told Bernama.
At 6pm, the ringgit eased to 4.6845/4.6878 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.6765/4.6800.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local currency appreciated vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1650/3.1672 from 3.1718/3.1744 yesterday but fell against the British pound to 5.9840/5.9878 from 5.9808/5.9853 and weakened versus the euro to 5.1164/5.1197 from 5.1114/5.1152 previously.
The ringgit was traded mixed against other Asean currencies.
It rose versus the Thai baht to 13.1053/13.1200 from 13.1436/13.1601 at yesterday’s close and appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.5121/3.5149 from 3.5133/3.5162 previously.
However, the local currency was flat against the Philippine peso at 8.45/8.47 compared with 8.45/8.46 yesterday and decreased vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 300.7/301.1 from 299.9/300.3. - FMT
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