Ringgit ends lower on hawkish Fed sentiment
Federal Reserve officials indicated that more rate hikes were likely, says analyst.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian ringgit closed lower against the US dollar on Friday, impacted by persistent expectations of aggressive interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve (Fed). Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid attributed the decline to ongoing hawkish signals from Fed officials, including Philadelphia Fed president Anna Paulson.
Paulson's remarks indicated that additional rate hikes were anticipated. "In this context, US Treasury yields for the two- and 10-year maturities rose by six basis points to 4.91% and 5.57%, respectively," Rashid explained to Bernama. By 6pm, the ringgit weakened to 4.0805/4.0845 against the US dollar, down from its Friday closing rate of 4.0715/4.0765.
The local currency also depreciated against a range of major currencies, falling to 4.6416/4.6461 against the euro from 4.6378/4.6435, 5.4099/5.4152 against the British pound from 5.3907/5.3973, and 2.5994/2.6021 against the Japanese yen from 2.5764/2.5797. Against ASEAN currencies, the ringgit dropped against the Singapore dollar to 3.1914/3.1948 from 3.1858/3.1900, remained unchanged versus the Philippine peso at 6.52/6.53, climbed against the Indonesian rupiah to 226.9/227.2 from 227.4/227.8, and increased against the Thai baht to 12.1429/12.1588 from 12.2036/12.2234.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 1 other outlet
- Ringgit ends lower on hawkish Fed sentiment freemalaysiatoday.com
