KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened marginally higher against the US dollar today, ahead of the United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes to be released later in the day, said an analyst.
At 9 am, the local note increased to 4.5730/5780 against the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.5750/5835
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the US dollar has not shown any major direction, adding that the local currency is likely to trade rangebound today, reaping the rewards from the expectation of softer United States (US) Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.
The US interest rate has increased by 375 basis points, or 3.75 per cent, since March this year.
"I expect local exports to continue selling their greenback holding from now until year-end, hedging the expected 2023 downturn in the US dollar as recessionary storm clouds start forming over the US economy,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Ambank Research said investors would also focus on the US Durable Goods Orders report later today, where the consensus expects growth to be at 0.4 per cent month-on-month for October 2022.
"We expect the ringgit to trade between the support levels of 4.565 and 4.575, while resistance is pinned at 4.600-4.610,” it said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
The local note dropped versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3181/3224 from 3.3169/3235 at Tuesday’s close and slipped against the euro to 4.7148/7199 from 4.6981/7068 previously.
It had also depreciated versus the British pound to 5.4396/4455 from 5.4223/4324 and slid vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.2400/2440 from 3.2380/2445 yesterday. - Bernama
