Ringgit Firms Against US Dollar On Fed Cues, Weakens Versus Majors
The ringgit opened Thursday stronger against the US dollar, trading at 4.2255/2475 compared to Wednesday's close of 4.2335/2405. The gains followed comments by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who flagged uncertainties around the inflationary impact of tariffs.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted that the US Dollar Index (DXY) slipped 0.18% to 97.679 points. 'Markets are still leaning towards the Fed increasing policy accommodation in the second half of the year, with two rate cuts now appearing to be the base case,' he said.
Despite the improvement against the greenback, the ringgit weakened against other major currencies. It slipped to 2.9161/9315 against the Japanese yen, 5.7843/8144 against the British pound, and 4.9367/9624 against the euro.
Against ASEAN peers, the local note strengthened slightly to 7.45/7.49 against the Philippine peso and was little changed at 259.2/260.6 against the Indonesian rupiah. It, however, retreated to 3.3092/3269 versus the Singapore dollar and to 12.9899/13.0648 against the Thai baht. Related
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