THE ringgit traded lower against the US dollar at the opening today as the US Dollar Index strengthened by 0.2% to 103.419 points.

Analysts said this came as the July Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes revealed that the Federal Reserve members were still concerned about inflation, which necessitated the restrictive monetary policy to be retained.

At 9am, the local note fell to 4.6420/6455 against the greenback from 4.6265/6320 at yesterday’s close.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said with China’s economy looking increasingly shaky and the Bank of Japan unlikely to budge from its accommodative monetary stance, the US dollar would continue to be the highly sought-after currency.

“On that note, the US dollar/ringgit is expected to remain weak in the near term and move between RM4.62 and RM4.63,” he said.

“The ringgit continues to flirt around its support level of RM4.6257, with the resistant level currently at RM4.7495.”

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said if the rate hits above 4.6450, the ringgit-US dollar could move to the 4.6850 and 4.7450 levels.

Alternatively, if it breaks below 4.6130, the ringgit could appreciate around the 4.5750 level against the greenback, he said.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It improved versus the Japanese yen to 3.1708/1734 from 3.1782/1822 yesterday and rose versus the euro to 5.0459/0497 from 5.0549/0609, but inched down vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9046/9091 from 5.9020/9090.

The local unit was traded mixed against other Asean currencies.

The ringgit eased vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.4102/4130 from 3.4086/4132 yesterday but went up against the Thai baht to 13.0547/0693 from 13.0777/0995 previously.

It depreciated against the Philippine peso to 8.19/8.21 from 8.18/8.20 yesterday and declined versus the Indonesian rupiah to 303.7/304.1 from 302.7/303.2. – Bernama, August 17, 2023.