The ringgit opened steady against the US dollar this morning despite the US currency strengthening ahead of the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes which signalled a potential interest rate hike.
At 9:19am, the ringgit was trading at 3.8980, unchanged at 0.00% against the US dollar since opening early Thursday in the Asian session.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid informed that the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose 0.57% to 97.712 points.
The development was driven by the latest FOMC minutes showing that several meeting participants were inclined to have bilateral discussions on the committee's decision.
He also stated that this situation indicated that an interest rate hike was likely to occur if inflation remained above the target level.
According to Mohd Afzanizam, the ringgit is expected to remain around RM3.89 to RM3.91 today driven by strong Malaysian economic data.
At the open, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.5191/5318 from 2.5356/5430, strengthened against the British pound to 5.2583/2846 from 5.3137/3287 and gained against the euro to 4.5936/6166 from 4.6204/6335 previously.
The ringgit was also mixed against ASEAN currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0746/0905 from 3.0860/0949, gained against the Thai baht to 12.4640/5364 from 12.5205/5619 and rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 230.7/232.0 from 231.4/231.2.
However, it depreciated against the Philippine peso to 6.73/6.77 from 6.71/6.74 previously.
