Qualampur: Ringit is expected to trade carefully against the US dollar next week before the release of minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on 20 February.
Bank Malaysia Malaysia BHD Chief Economist Dr. Mohammad Afzanim Abdul Rashid said that traders and market participants will assess the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) stance on reducing monetary policy this year.
“We said that the fed is not in a hurry to reduce the Fed Fund Rate (FFR) in the near future.
“The reason for this is that the prevailing FFR is still restrictive, and would prefer to look at the Fed inflation projection towards its two percent target, especially after the US inflation data came more than expected.”
The US headline inflation and the main consumer price index rose 3.0 percent and 3.3 percent in January respectively.
Mohammad Afzanimsam said that the local note may test the immediate support level of RM4.43 next week.
For the end of the week, US President Donald Trump led to the ups and downs in the ringwick amid benefits and disadvantages over concerns over policy uncertainties.
However, it overturned from oversold levels and finished the week more, supported by Malaysia’s strong 2024 GDP performance.
On Friday-to-Friday basis, Ringit appreciated 4.4375/4420 to 4.4310/4385 last week.
Meanwhile, the local currency was lower than most major currencies.
It weakened from 5.5278/5334 to 5.5769/5863 against the British pound and slipped from 4.6437/6515 to 4.6101/6148 against Euro. However, it strengthened from 2.9217/9249 to 2.9048/9099 against Japanese Yen.
Ringit also fell against most ASEAN currencies.
It fell from 272.4/272.9 to 272.6/273.2 against Indonesian ropy and weakened from 3.3055/3113 to 3.2866/2901 against Singapore dollar. It was less than 7.66/7.68 to 7.65/7.66 against Philippine Peso.
However, the local note increased against Thai Baht from 13.1853/2041 to 13.1761/2059.
