KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — The ringgit moved within a tight range to close marginally higher against the US dollar today as markets participants took a guarded approach in view of the final Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) deliberations tonight.
At 6 pm, the local note stood at 4.2260/2310 against the greenback compared with 4.2300/2340 at yesterday's close.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the latest US Producer Price Index print which came in higher at 9.6 per cent during November, exceeding consensus estimates of 9.2 per cent, indicated that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would most likely issue a more hawkish statement tonight.
“Furthermore, given a decent stream of economic data, the Fed is also likely to bump up its macroeconomic forecast. This would really explain why the ringgit has been trading in a narrow range,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the ringgit ended higher vis-a-vis a basket of other major currencies except the British pound, against which it slid to 5.6033/6099 from 5.5929/5982 on Tuesday.
The local currency appreciated against the euro to 4.7644/7700 from yesterday’s close of 4.7803/7848, rose compared to the Singapore dollar to 3.0890/0931 from 3.0912/0946 previously, and improved versus the Japanese yen to 3.7152/7199 from 3.7239/7278.
— Bernama
