KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — The ringgit opened almost unchanged with a downward bias against the US dollar, as traders are keeping an eye on the outcome of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled to end later on Wednesday.
At 9am, the local note was quoted at 4.1130/1180 against the greenback from 4.1120/1160 at Tuesday’s close.
Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said the ringgit remained deterred by a strong US dollar, higher US Treasury yields, the possibility of the US economy outperforming expectations, as well as expectations that higher US yields would become more pronounced in the second quarter.
“For the time being, the Asian forex market, including the US dollar/ringgit, has shifted into buying the US dollar dip mode while keeping an eye on US yields,” he told Bernama.
Still, Innes said it is probably a good idea not to lose sight of Asia’s growth acceleration via the global trade revival.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against other major currencies, except against the euro, rising to 4.8945/9021 from 4.9044/9108 at the close on Tuesday.
It weakened against the Japanese yen to 3.7686/7742 from 3.7652/7699, fell versus the British pound to 5.7142/7215 from 5.6857/6928, and eased vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.0546/0590 from 3.0543/0579.
— Bernama
