Ringgit Extends Rally Against US Dollar As Traders Reassess Fed Rate Hike Prospects

By Engku Shariful Azni Engku Ab Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- The ringgit extended its gains to close higher against the US dollar on Friday as traders reassessed the possibility of an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), an analyst said.

The Fed decided to keep the benchmark interest rate steady at 3.75 per cent to 4.00 per cent on Oct 28.

At 6 pm, the ringgit rose to 4.0555/0600 against the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.0575/0620.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the dollar-ringgit was seen to be at around RM4.0425 during the morning session but later moved towards RM4.0577, giving a 0.05 per cent gain against the dollar.

“It appears that traders are reassessing the likelihood of a rate hike, which has led to lower US Dollar Index (DXY) by 0.32 per cent to 101.710 points,” he told Bernama.

Against major currencies, the ringgit eased against the British pound to 5.4461/4522 from 5.4009/4069 at Thursday’s close, slid against the euro to 4.5413/5464 from 4.5176/5226, and weakened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 2.5782/5812 from 2.5685/5715 previously.

The ringgit was also mostly lower against its ASEAN peers.

It gained vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 223.4/223.8 from yesterday’s close of 223.7/224.0, but slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.1753/1791 from 3.1665/1702 previously.

It also lost against the Thai baht to 12.0373/0561 from 12.0165/0345 at Thursday’s close, and inched down vis-a-vis the Philippine peso at 6.36/6.37 from 6.35/6.36 previously.

-- BERNAMA