THE ringgit ended higher against the US dollar today, as risk appetite in the market was weighed down by cautious sentiment.

At 6pm, the local note rose to 4.6385/6430 against the greenback from 4.6435/6485 at yesterday’s close.

A dealer said traders turned cautious ahead of US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium tonight, shifting demand towards other currencies.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said market players would be closely monitoring the speech as it was expected to shed more light on the US monetary policy direction.

“The market has been directionless for the past few days and investors are looking for a fresh lead on the greenback as well as the ringgit,” he said.

Earlier, the Department of Statistics Malaysia announced that Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) cooled to 2% in July – the lowest for the year – with the index points recorded at 130.5 from 127.9 in the same month last year.

Inflation, which came in at 2.4% year-on-year in June, has shown a moderating trend since January, when it stood at 3.7%.

Afzanizam said the lower CPI would lead to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) being less motivated to increase the overnight policy rate (OPR) in the near term.

“Nonetheless, the ringgit has been in an oversold position against the greenback. Therefore, the possibility it may appreciate is something we cannot totally rule out,” he said.

BNM’s Monetary Policy Committee had kept the OPR unchanged at 3% during its July meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for September 6 and 7.

The ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.

It appreciated against the British pound to 5.8385/8441 from 5.8829/8892 yesterday, inched up vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1757/1790 from 3.1932/1968 and increased against the euro to 5.0054/0103 from 5.0373/0427.

The local note was mostly higher against other Asean currencies.

It gained against the Singapore dollar to 3.4202/4238 from 3.4292/4332 yesterday and appreciated against the Thai baht to 13.2121/2309 from 13.2645/2848.

It climbed vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 303.2/303.7 from 304.5/305.0 previously but slipped against the Philippine peso to 8.20/8.21 from 8.17/8.19. – Bernama, August 25, 2023.