THE United States’ interest rate will influence the ringgit’s movement next week, said Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid.

He said the market will continue to focus on the US interest rate, which will dominate foreign exchange markets.

“The ringgit could shift between RM4.43 and RM4.45 (against the greenback) in the near term,” he told Bernama.

Week-on-week, the ringgit traded lower against the US dollar at 4.4350/4395 against last Friday’s close of 4.4000/4025.

For the short week, less uncertainty around the greenback has supported it and led to market expectations of another round of US interest rate hikes.

The impact on the ringgit was cushioned by China’s economic data, which showed its gross domestic product for the first quarter of 2023 grew more than expected – by 4.5% compared with 2022’s 2.9% against consensus estimates of 4%.

This bodes well for Malaysia as it pursues trade and investment from China.

The local note traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies compared with last week.

The ringgit rose against the euro to 4.8616/8666 from 4.8660/8687, strengthened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.2923/2958 from 3.3208/3229, and slipped against the British pound at 5.5127/5183 from 5.5031/5062 a week earlier.

The ringgit traded mixed against its Asean counterparts.

The local note appreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 296.4/297.1 from 299.1/299.5 last week, increased vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 7.91/7.93 from 7.97/7.98, and improved against the Thai baht to 12.8947/9134 from 12.9070/9208 previously.

The ringgit was lower versus the Singapore dollar at 3.3256/3292 from 3.3183/3204 the previous week. – Bernama, April 22, 2023.