KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — The ringgit is expected to trade range-bound next week, said a dealer.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the latest announcement by the US Federal Reserve to taper its asset purchase programme has confirmed that the Fed has become more sanguine on the economic outlook.
“Given the positive slew of data points, chances of higher interest rate next year is rising. So this would boost the value of the US dollar and would inadvertently weaken the ringgit in the immediate term. Ringgit could hover around RM4.15 to RM4.16 next week,” he told Bernama.
When asked about the impact of the Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to keep the overnight policy rate (OPR) at 1.75 per cent, he said the central bank is cautious due to risks to Malaysia’s economic growth outlook and the ringgit may remain range-bound as a result.
On a weekly basis, the ringgit fell to 4.1585/1605 versus the greenback yesterday from 4.1390/1415 a week earlier.
The local unit was traded mixed against other major currencies compared to the previous Friday.
The ringgit gained against the Singapore dollar to 3.0729/0746 from 3.0762/0783 a week earlier, and improved against the euro to 4.7997/8020 from 4.8232/8261 previously.
It depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.6536/6553 from 3.6403/6425 a week before and slipped vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.5865/5892 from 5.7089/7124 previously. — Bernama
