kuala lumpur: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today on rising US bond yields, analysts said, following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments on US monetary policy. .
As of 9:03am, the ringgit had fallen to 4.7220/7275 against the dollar from Thursday’s closing price of 4.6895/6965.
Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, chief economist at Bank Muamarat Malaysia, said the two-year and 10-year US Treasury yields rose by 9.0 basis points and 14.0 basis points to end at 5.02% and 4.63%, respectively. , the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose 0.29% to 105.904 points.
“Financial markets anxiously awaited Mr. Powell’s comments on monetary policy at last night’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) forum.
“Indeed, the Fed chief has indicated that we may need to raise U.S. interest rates further to win the fight against inflation,” he told Bernama.
Powell’s comments reportedly signaled that the central bank is not 100% convinced that the rate hike cycle is over.
In this regard, Mohd Afzanizam said he expected the ringgit to depreciate by around RM4.69 to RM4.70.
Meanwhile, the ringgit weakened against a basket of major currencies.
The Japanese yen fell to 3.1199/1238 from Thursday’s close of 3.1050/1099, against the euro it fell from 5.0173/0248 to 5.0370/0428, and against the British pound it fell to 5.7703/7770 from 5.7695/7781.
Local banknotes also depreciated against other ASEAN currencies.
The Singapore dollar fell to 3.4703/4746 from Thursday’s 3.4563/4617, while the Thai baht fell to 13.1914/2134 from 13.1802/2065 the previous day.
The exchange rate against the Philippine peso also fell to 8.43/8.45 from yesterday’s 8.39/8.41, and against the Indonesian rupiah it fell to 301.5/302.1 from Thursday’s closing price of 299.5/300.1. – Bernama
