Ringgit likely to be in tight range against greenback

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KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit is likely to remain in a tight range around the RM4.42 level on mixed market sentiments, an analyst said.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the market’s major focus would be the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June 2022, which is expected to increase by 8.7 per cent based on consensus estimates from 8.6 per cent in May 2022.

The figures will be published next week on July 13.

Meanwhile, he said it seems that the Federal Reserve is subscribing to the monetarists’ view whereby inflation is always present as a result of the monetary phenomenon.

“This would put it as the front runner in respect to the monetary tightening campaign as other central banks are likely to remain measured in their rate hike decision,” he told Bernama.

For the week just ended, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against the US dollar as the sentiment was weighed down by the stronger greenback.

The ringgit fell against the greenback at 4.4250/4270 on Friday, compared with 4.4060/4085 a week earlier.

The local note, however, was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies on a Friday-to-Friday basis, except for the Japanese yen, where it fell to 3.2577/2595 from 3.2483/2504 previously.

The ringgit appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1528/1547 from 3.1596/1618 a week earlier, gained against the British pound to 5.2888/2912 from 5.3163/3193 and strengthened versus the euro to 4.4777/4797 from 4.5060/6086 last week. — Bernama