Ringgit opens lower ahead of Fed meeting this week

 

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the greenback in cautious trading ahead of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting on March 19-20.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said traders and investors are paying close attention to the Fed meeting in the middle of the week for clearer guidance on the US interest rate outlook.

“Although the Fed is likely to keep interest rates as they are, there’s speculation about whether they’ll adjust their predictions for future rate changes, especially if they will reduce the expected number of rate cuts in 2024 from three to two.

“This could make the US dollar more attractive. People in the market are also watching closely for any signs that the Fed might see a higher interest rate, which could cause a big reaction in the US dollar,” he added.

At 9.05am, the ringgit depreciated to 4.7150/4.7190 against the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.7050/4.7095.

The ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

It declined against the British pound to 6.0027/6.0078 from 6.0003/6.0060 last week and eased versus the euro to 5.1323/5.1366 from 5.1275/5.1324. It increased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1574/3.1603 from 3.1637/3.1669 on Friday.

The ringgit was traded mixed against other Asean currencies.

It appreciated versus the Thai baht to 13.1191/13.1350 from 13.1480/13.1661 at Friday’s close and strengthened against the Philippines peso to 8.46/8.48 compared with 8.47/8.48.

However, it weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.5226/3.5259 from 3.5183/3.5219 and slid against the Indonesian rupiah to 302.2/302.6 from 301.5/302.0. - FMT