KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today amid quiet trading as United States markets were closed for Washington’s Birthday yesterday, a dealer said.
At 9am, the ringgit slipped to 4.4305/4350 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4280/4325
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US dollar has shown an important upward trend against the ringgit in recent weeks, noting that the pair is currently approaching the resistance level of around 4.4300.
“This could cause USD/MYR to drop towards 4.3600,” he said in a note today.
Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes is expecting the Asian forex exchange – including the ringgit – to trade in tight ranges ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting tomorrow.
“There remains an air of caution due to the legacy effects of last week’s precipitous rise in yields. Hence, I think investors will remain very cautious with the US Federal Reserve sounding more hawkish,” he said.
In the meantime, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local unit rose against the Japanese yen to 3.2997/3035 from 3.2998/3036 at yesterday’s close but declined vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3152/3191 from 3.3136/3172 yesterday.
However, it weakened against the euro to 4.7300/7348 from 4.7291/7339 and fell against the British pound to 5.3286/3340 from 5.3233/3288 previously.
Bursa Malaysia opened almost flat today amidst cautious sentiments ahead of the retabling of Budget 2023 this Friday.
At 9.14am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched down by 0.10 of-a-point to 1,473.36 from yesterday’s close of 1,473.46, after opening 0.65 of-a-point higher at 1,474.11.
However, on the broader market, gainers edged past decliners 167 to 152, while 284 counters were unchanged, 1,621 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Turnover amounted to 354.53 million units worth RM112.68 million. – Bernama, February 21, 2023
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