KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — The ringgit ended easier against the US dollar today despite a weaker greenback which continued to slide on heightened expectations of a pause to the United States (US) Federal Reserve’s (Fed) rate-hike cycle amid signs of cooling inflation, analysts said.
At 6pm, the local note dipped to 4.4000/4025 versus the greenback from Thursday’s (April 13) closing rate of 4.3995/4025.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes told Bernama the US dollar has been on the back foot due to a combination of Fed policy remix, softer inflation metrics and a cautious outlook in the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes.
“Last night, the surprising drop in the US Producer Price Index (PPI) convinced investors that the post-pandemic inflation shock is over and should allow the Fed to comfortably pause the rate hikes after the expected 25 basis points hike in May.
“Hence, the ringgit was initially traded stronger. But escalating geopolitical risk over Taiwan, where the US and China are at loggerheads, has sent jitters through regional foreign exchange markets. The local currency gave up all the intraday gains to close a touch weaker than the opening trades,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
It fell vis-à-vis the euro to 4.8660/8687 from 4.8500/8533 at Thursday’s close, was lower versus the British pound to 5.5031/5062 from 5.5047/5084 but appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.3208/3229 compared with 3.3034/3059 yesterday.
The local note was also mostly lower against Asean currencies.
It declined against the Indonesian rupiah at 299.1/299.5 from 298.3/298.7 on Thursday and went down versus the Thai baht to 12.9070/9208 from 12.8942/9083 previously.
The local note also weakened against the Philippine peso at 7.97/7.98 from 7.96/7.97 at Thursday’s close but gained against the Singapore dollar at 3.3183/3204 from 3.3194/3219 yesterday.
— Bernama
