The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar this morning and is expected to remain in a narrow range amid mixed market sentiment as the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting begins today.
At 10:35am, the ringgit was at 4.1190, down 0.22% against the US dollar since opening early Tuesday in the Asian session.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid explained that the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose 0.10% to 99.087 points ahead of the FOMC meeting.
He also noted that US Treasury bond yields rose as fixed income investors remained cautious ahead of tomorrow's FOMC meeting.
At the opening, the ringgit was traded lower against other major currencies.
It declined against the British pound to 5.47971/4930 from 5.4729/4789 yesterday, weakened against the euro to 4.7868/7984 from 4.7873/7926, but rose against the Japanese yen to 2.6384/6458 from 2.6429/6460 previously.
The ringgit was also mixed against its ASEAN counterparts.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1687/1769 from 3.1698/1735 yesterday and rose against the Thai baht to 12.8822/9224 from 12.9006/9204 previously.
However, it depreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 246.2/247.0 from 246.1/246.5 and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 6.97/7.00 from 6.97/6.98.
