The ringgit rose against the US dollar at the open today as the greenback weakened after banking-related stocks in the United States (US) fell sharply amid concern over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), said an analyst.
At 9am, the local note firmed to 4.4850/4950 versus the greenback from yesterday’s closing rate of 4.4925/4965.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd head of economics, market analysis and social finance Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the market was expecting the US Federal Reserve to be more dovish in the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week following the collapse of SVB.
“Also, the European Central Bank is likely to remain hawkish when it meets on March 16, whereby the consensus indicates a 50-basis point hike in the deposit facility rate, which currently stands at 2.50 percent,” he said.
On the local note, he opined that the ringgit was expected to appreciate against the greenback today.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.
It slid versus the British pound to 5.4551/4673 from 5.4292/4340 at Monday’s close and depreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8075/8182 from 4.7957/8000, but it rose against the Japanese yen to 3.3656/3734 from 3.3727/3763 previously.
The ringgit appreciated against the Thai baht to 12.9797/13.0158 from 12.9819/9994 yesterday, climbed versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3274/3351 from 3.3354/3389 previously, strengthened vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 291.60/292.40 from 292.10/292.25, and firmed vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 8.15/8.19 compared with 8.17/8.18.
