KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 — The ringgit ended lower today ahead of the US Federal Reserve (US Fed) decision on tapering later tonight and with the possibility of Evergrande defaulting on their interest payments on Thursday.
At 6pm, the local note fell to 4.1910/1950 against the US dollar from 4.1835/1850 at Tuesday’s close.
Bank Islam chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the domestic currency traded in a tight range versus the greenback throughout the day.
“We foresee that the US Fed will go ahead with their plans to reduce their asset purchases programme which currently totalled US$120 billion (RM502 billion) per month,” he told Bernama.
The ringgit is expected to continue trading in the range between RM4.18 and RM4.19 in the immediate term.
At the close, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The ringgit climbed versus the British pound to 5.7140/7195 from 5.7272/7293 at Tuesday’s close and was at 3.0996/1028 against the Singapore dollar from 3.0971/0984.
The local note depreciated against the yen to 3.8270/8311 from 3.8181/8198, and eased to 4.9156/9203 versus the euro from 4.9102/9119 yesterday. — Bernama
