KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — The ringgit extended its downward movement against the US dollar at closing today as sentiment remained jittery ahead of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data to be released later today, analysts said.
At 6pm, the local note was traded at 4.4260/4320 against the greenback compared with 4.4150/4200 at Monday’s close.
PI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said market players were also expecting announcements on interest rates from the US Federal Reserve, given the recent run of US inflation data that has been sticky rather than dropping.
News reported that the US central bank is expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, which would mark a step down from the hikes of 75 basis points in the last four meetings.
“And even though inflation expectations are clearly falling, still local traders are worried about a higher-than-expected US CPI print that could stop and reverse the ringgit’s year-end rally in its track.
“However, I think it is just a defensive position for now for the local currency as the market is still positive on the ringgit outlook into 2023,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The local note fell against the British pound to 5.4307/4381 from 5.4190/4251 at Monday’s close and marginally eased versus the euro to 4.6646/6709 from 4.6622/6675 yesterday.
It slightly increased against the Singapore dollar to 3.2640/2689 from 3.2641/2683 and rose against the Japanese yen to 3.2142/2188 from 3.2311/2350 at Monday’s close.
— Bernama
