KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — The ringgit settled little changed against the US dollar today due to a lack of interest in the local unit.
At 6pm, the local note stood at 4.4730/4780 versus the greenback compared to Wednesday’s closing rate of 4.4710/4740.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the market players are pushing a narrative that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise the interest rate in the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting from March 21 to March 22.
“Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari is reported saying that he is now ‘open-minded’ about whether the Fed should raise the interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points in the next policy meeting.
“So the investors started to think that the Fed might hike the interest rate by 50 basis points,” he told Bernama.
At home, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local unit had advanced vis-à-vis the euro to 4.7539/7592 from 4.7580/7612 yesterday, rose against the Japanese yen to 3.2772/2813 from 3.2916/2941, and increased against the British pound to 5.3546/3606 from 5.3956/3992 previously.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mixed against some Asean currencies.
It appreciated versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3210/3252 from 3.3333/3361 on Wednesday, gained against the Indonesian rupiah at 292.60/293.20 from 293.40/293.80 yesterday.
The local note fell against the Thai baht to 12.8583/8789 from 12.8484/8637 and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 8.13/8.14.
— Bernama
