KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — The ringgit strengthened against the US dollar at the close today ahead of the United States Federal Reserve’s (US Fed) monetary policy announcement today, as cautious traders await the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) decision which could catalyse market movements, an analyst said.

The local note was quoted at 4.2485/2555 versus the greenback, compared with 4.2720/2800 recorded at the close yesterday.

The analyst said that the FOMC will convene in the next two days to focus on the US’ current monetary policy in the wake of the country’s jobs report.

Meanwhile, AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes said that traders will resume selling the dollar if the FOMC signals that it will keep the US Fed’s funds rate near zero in the medium-term.

Until then, he said, the ringgit would likely remain attractive, especially with the recent announcement of the RM35 billion short-term National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) to revive the economy.

At the close, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of benchmark currencies, except against the yen, where it rose to 3.9565/9641 from 3.9589/9674 yesterday.

The local note eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0662/0723 from 3.0661/0723 yesterday, declined versus the euro at 4.8259/8342 from 4.8124/8227 and fell to 5.4177/4275 from 5.4007/4121 against the British pound. — Bernama