KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — The ringgit ended higher against the US dollar today as the greenback retreated after the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) continues to soften in November, leading the US Treasury two-year yields to drop, analysts said.
“This could imply that the market thinks the US Federal Reserve (Fed) could pause rate hikes in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023. That will also play out well for the ringgit,” SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes told Bernama.
At 6pm, the local note was traded at 4.3900/3955 against the US dollar compared with 4.4260/4320 at Tuesday’s close.
It was reported that in the 12 months through November, the US CPI climbed 7.1 per cent, the smallest advance since December 2021.
Innes further expected the ringgit to continue to strengthen towards the year-end in anticipation of China’s travel boom in 2023, wherein this could benefit Asean currencies such as the ringgit and Thai baht, with the return of Chinese tourists.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note weakened against the British pound to 5.4440/4509 from 5.4307/4381 at Tuesday’s close and eased versus the euro to 4.6819/6878 from 4.6646/6709 yesterday.
It declined against the Japanese yen to 3.2552/2608 from 3.2142/2188 at Tuesday’s close but improved marginally versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2627/2675 from 3.2640/2689 previously.
— Bernama
