KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar on Friday, extending its losing streak ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) decision next week on interest rates, said a dealer.
At 6pm, the local note retreated against the greenback to 4.7225/7275 from 4.7155/7185 at yesterday’s closing.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes noted that the ringgit suffered against the US dollar along with other Asian currencies.
“But if a 75-basis point hike is to be the base case when the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets on November 2, it would harmful for the ringgit since the local interest rate hike will not match the pace of US rate hikes given the concerns about a domestic economic downturn,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit strengthened against a basket of major currencies.
It was marginally higher against the Singapore dollar at 3.3436/3474 from 3.3448/3472 previously and improved vis-à-vis the British pound to 5.4455/4513 from 5.4516/4551 at the close yesterday.
The local note jumped against the euro to 4.7008/7058 from yesterday’s 4.7334/7364 and versus the Japanese yen, it climbed up to 3.1976/2012 from 3.2194/2219 at Thursday’s close.
— Bernama
