KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar today amid stronger demand for the greenback, said an analyst.
At 9.13am, the local note stood at 4.3575/3600 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.3565/3605.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the improving US dollar is due to the possibility of a 0.5 per cent interest rate hike at the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in early May.
“The US dollar continues to rise against the ringgit but at a slower pace.
“However, the US dollar is already beginning to show signs of exhaustion from the extensive bullish movement,” he told Bernama.
Besides, he said the war in Ukraine and the recent outbreak of Covid-19 in Asia have seen investors abandoning high-risk assets and seeking safe-haven assets such as the US dollar.
“The next region of interest for sellers is at 4.3660.
“At the moment it seems unlikely that the US dollar/ringgit pairing will be able to break above this level without first seeing a major pullback,” he added.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note strengthened versus the Japanese yen to 3.3816/3838 from Wednesday’s close of 3.4056/4090 yesterday and rose against the euro to 4.5941/5967 from 4.6236/6278 previously.
It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1526/1548 from yesterday’s close of 3.1592/1625 and increased vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.4626/4657 from 5.4844/4894 previously.
— Bernama
