KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — The ringgit edged down against the US dollar, mirroring the narrow trade recorded by most Asian currencies as investors took a cautious stand ahead of the Federal Reserve policy meeting this week.
At 6pm, the local currency fell to 4.1800/1830 against the greenback from 4.1770/1800 yesterday.
FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga said the dollar should make a return and will look to shoot to the moon, should the Fed disappoint expectations or create a frenzy by not offering any hints about upcoming action to be taken in spite of persistent global headwinds.
“While it is widely expected that US interest rates will be left unchanged this month, investors should not be quick to label this policy meeting as a non-event.
“Markets will be closely scrutinising the meeting for confirmation of an interest rate cut occurring as early as next month,” he added.
At the close, the ringgit traded mostly mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The local currency was higher at 5.2355/2409 against the pound compared with yesterday’s 5.2576/2635, and improved versus the euro to 4.6745/6795 from 4.6828/6866.
However, it eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0471/0497 from 3.0467/0493 and against the yen to 3.8596/8635 from 3.8448/8486 previously. — Bernama
