KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — The ringgit opened marginally higher against the US dollar on Friday after US Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Jerome Powell revealed a more moderate stance of a half percentage point rise in the benchmark rate to 4.5 per cent, leaving the market digesting the news.
At 9am, the local note was traded at 4.4110/4200 against the greenback compared with 4.4195/4260 at the close yesterday.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the interest rate hike was in line with expectations, however, investors were paying close attention to the statement by Powell, who offered some hints about the next steps to be taken by the central bank in 2023.
“According to Powell, inflation has shown signs of a decrease but is still high, which could cause the Fed to maintain a tighter stance over the next few months,” he said in a note.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The local note rose against the British pound to 5.3896/3975 from 5.4410/4521 at Thursday’s close and was marginally better versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2549/2602 from 3.2554/2625 yesterday.
It gained against the Japanese yen to 3.2128/2177 from 3.2296/2364 on Thursday but eased versus the euro to 4.7032/7101 from 4.6845/6940 previously.
— Bernama
