KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 ― The ringgit is likely to continue its downward trend against the US dollar next week, possibly around the RM4.71 to RM4.72 range, said Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid.
He told Bernama that the focus will be on the United States Federal Reserve’s (Fed) favourite inflation gauge, which is the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) and Core PCE for April.
There will also be a series of speakers that will shed more light on the Fed’s monetary stance, said Mohd Afzanizam.
“This week, the ringgit experienced some form of correction while the technical charts have been showing signs of overbought condition which resulted in profit-taking activities seeping in.
“We opine that market participants are still wary about the Fed not backing down their tight monetary stance,” he added.
Hence, the upside risk to the Fed Funds Rate is something that cannot be ruled out, said the economist, adding that this could lead to the ringgit trading on a weak trajectory in the near term.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the ringgit depreciated to 4.7100/7130 versus the greenback from 4.6865/6890 a week earlier.
The ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except for the Japanese yen, which appreciated to 2.9996/3.0017 from 3.0071/0089 previously.
The local note fell against the British pound to 5.9859/9898 from 5.9303/9335 over the week and eased versus the euro to 5.1000/1032 from 5.0816/0843 a week earlier.
The ringgit traded mixed against Asean currencies.
It weakened against the Indonesian rupiah to 294.5/294.7 from 293.6/294.0 last Friday and fell vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.4876/4901 from 3.4784/4806 previously.
The local note was higher versus the Philippine peso to 8.09/8.10 from 8.13/8.14 a week earlier and improved against the Thai baht to 12.8373/8507 from 12.9390/9516. ― Bernama
