KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit opened marginally lower against the United States dollar today, as the focus shifts towards the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later today, said an analyst.
At 9.01am, the local currency was steadily trading at 4.0980/1030 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.0960/1000.
Although sentiment should improve for the ringgit based on positive economic indicators, said the analyst, the current situation appears volatile, as investors enter consolidation mode ahead of the two-day FOMC monetary policy meet.
Edward Moya, Oanda’s senior market analyst for the Americas, in a note said the FOMC policy decision should be “boring”, with policymakers widely expected to keep policy steady while committing to no changes to interest rates or asset purchases, despite the accelerating economic recovery.
“Following the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out and optimism for a full reopening of the economy in June, the world’s largest economy is expected to grow by 6.5% to 7.0% in the first quarter.”
The ringgit traded mostly higher against other major currencies.
It eased slightly against the Singapore dollar at 3.0903/0952 from yesterday’s 3.0890/0932, but improved versus the Japanese yen to 3.7892/7945 from 3.8017/8058.
It went up against the euro to 4.9500/9577 from 4.9545/9602, and strengthened against the British pound to 5.6938/7011 from 5.6992/7056. – Bernama, April 27, 2021
