KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — The ringgit eased against the US dollar today due to firmer demand for the greenback as the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated the possibility of a significant interest rate adjustment to bring the rising inflation under control, analysts said.
At 9am, the local currency stood at 4.4670/4700 against the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.4660/4685.
In its latest policy meeting minutes, the Fed said that it saw ‘little evidence’ late last month that the US’ inflation was subsiding and recognised that it would take a considerable amount of time for the situation to be resolved.
However, the ringgit's losses were capped by rising oil prices, with oil benchmark Brent crude trading around US$93 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies this morning.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.2334/2361 from 3.2315/2338 at Wednesday’s close, and declined against the euro at 4.5501/5531 from 4.5455/5480 previously.
The local unit was also flat vis-a-vis the Japanese yen at 3.3126/3150 from 3.3126/3147 yesterday, but improved versus the British pound to 5.3827/3864 from 5.4048/4078 previously.
— Bernama
