KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The ringgit continued its downtrend today to end lower against the greenback for the third consecutive day ahead of a decision on US interest rates tomorrow, as Japan made its first rate hike in 17 years.
At 6pm, the ringgit fell to 4.7350/7390 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.7165/7195.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US Dollar Index rose 0.30 per cent to 103.893 points ahead of the US Federal Reserve (US Fed) decision on interest rates, weakening the local note.
“The focus today was also on the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) decision to raise its overnight call rate from minus 0.1 per cent to between zero and 0.1 per cent and to discontinue the purchase of exchange-traded funds and Japan’s real estate investment trusts, which is part of their quantitative and qualitative monetary policy framework,” he told Bernama.
Also weighing on sentiment is the US Federal Open Market Committee (US FOMC) meeting, which will commence tonight and end tomorrow.
“A hawkish US Fed could provide further support to the dollar, and therefore, the (meeting) will be closely monitored by the market,” Afzanizam said.
The ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
It increased vis-à-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1420/1451 from 3.1608/1630 on Monday, gained against the British pound to 5.9992/6.0043 from 6.0060/0098 and firmed versus the euro to 5.1318/1361 from 5.1400/1433 previously.
The ringgit traded mixed against other Asean currencies.
It was lower versus the Thai baht to 13.1171/1354 from 13.1050/1203 at Monday’s close and slipped against the Indonesian rupiah to 301.2/301.6 from 300.5/300.9.
However, the local note edged up against the Singapore dollar to 3.5249/5281 from 3.5253/5278 and performed better against the Philippine peso at 8.46/8.48 compared with 8.49/8.50 previously.
— Bernama
