Ringgit Ends Flat Against US Dollar On Cautious Sentiment

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- The ringgit ended flat against the US dollar on cautious sentiment regarding the current economic outlook.

At 6 pm, the ringgit stood at 4.4680/4725 versus the greenback compared to Monday’s close of 4.4680/4730.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said market participants remained anxious on policy uncertainties under US President Donald Trump.

“The currency market participants remain anxious about Trump 2.0 policies and how the US Federal Reserve (Fed) would react to the policy,” he told Bernama.

In his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress, Fed chair Jerome Powell signalled that the central bank was in no rush to ease interest rates further and would wait until next quarter before cutting rates again.

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

It strengthened versus the Japanese yen to 2.9106/9137 from 2.9352/9387 at the close on Monday, but slipped against the euro to 4.6351/6398 from 4.6128/6179 previously and depreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.5613/5669 from 5.5430/5492.  

The local note was mostly higher against ASEAN currencies.  

The ringgit rose versus the Indonesian rupiah to 272.7/273.2 from 273.1/273.5 at Monday’s close, gained against the Philippine peso to 7.68/7.69 from 7.69/7.70 previously and climbed vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.0953/1151 from 13.1768/1986.

However, it eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.3028/3064 from 3.3006/3048 on Monday.

-- BERNAMA