KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — The ringgit closed higher against the greenback today after the US Federal Reserve said it would not actively consider 75-basis-point moves in the future.
It had earlier hiked the interest rate by half a percentage point and signalled that it would do so at the same rate in the next two meetings.
At 6pm, the local unit rose to 4.3465/3515 against the greenback compared to last Friday’s close of 4.3520/3570.
OANDA senior market analyst Asia Pacific Jeffrey Halley said with the possibility of a 0.75 percentage point cent hike off the table, for now, markets have an excuse to reduce extended US dollar long positions.
“The US dollar slumped against developing markets and Asian currencies and from a technical perspective, the dollar index should hold around those (levels) and resume its uptrend,” he added.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the ringgit was broadly trading in line with the sentiment on the US dollar today.
The local note, however, was easier against the euro, falling to 4.6056/6108 from last Friday’s 4.6018/6071, depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1549/1588 from 3.1543/1584 but improved vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.4622/4685 from 5.4652/4715.
It traded against the Japanese yen at 3.3517/3558 from 3.3392/3433 last Friday.
— Bernama
