MONEY Ringgit opens marginally lower against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR – The ringgit continued its downtrend on Monday due to the lack of catalysts amidst growing risk-off sentiment, said an analyst.

At 9am, the local currency slipped to 4.5350/5405 against the greenback from 4.5340/5365 at Thursday’s close.

The market was closed last Friday in conjunction with the Malaysia Day 2022 celebration.

In a note, Kenanga Research said investors are keeping a close watch on the crucial United States Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy meeting later this week, where the Federal Open Market Committee is expected to continue its rate hike momentum.

“The ringgit may trade around the 4.52-4.55 against the safe haven US dollar amid growing risk-off sentiment on expectations that the Fed may continue to jack up rate by another 75 basis points,” it said.

Nevertheless, further decline of the local note was offset by rising oil prices, where at press time, the benchmark Brent crude oil rose 1.11 per cent to US$92.36 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.

It gained against the British pound to 5.1799/1862 from 5.2214/2242 at Thursday’s close and inched up versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2236/2280 from 3.2238/2261 previously.

However, the local note went down against the euro to 4.5395/5450 from 4.5317/5342 last week and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.1729/1770 from 3.1647/1666 previously.

Bernama