KUALA LUMPUR – The United State’s interest rate will influence the ringgit’s movement next week, said Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid.
He added the US interest rate would continue to be the focus in the market and dominate foreign exchange markets.
“As such, the ringgit is seen to be shifting around RM4.43 to RM4.45 in the near term,” he said.
On a week-on-week basis, the ringgit was traded lower against the US dollar at 4.4350/4395 against yesterday’s close of 4.4000/4025 a week earlier.
For the short week just ended, less uncertainty surrounding the US currency has supported the greenback and led to market expectations of another round of interest rate hikes in the US.
At the same time, the impact on the ringgit was cushioned by China’s economic data, which showed that its gross domestic product for the first quarter of this year (4Q 2023) grew more than expected at 4.5% (4Q 2022: 2.9%) against consensus estimates of 4.0%.
This bodes well for Malaysia via trade and investment from China.
Meanwhile, the local note traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies than a week earlier.
The ringgit rose against the euro to 4.8616/8666 from 4.8660/8687, went up vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.2923/2958 from 3.3208/3229 but weakened further against the British pound at 5.5127/5183 from 5.5031/5062 a week earlier.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mixed against its Asean counterparts.
The local note appreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 296.4/297.1 from 299.1/299.5 previously, increased vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 7.91/7.93 from 7.97/7.98 and improved against the Thai baht to 12.8947/9134 from 12.9070/9208 previously.
The ringgit was lower versus the Singapore dollar at 3.3256/3292 from 3.3183/3204 the previous week. – Bernama, April 22, 2023
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