Ringgit Lower Ahead Of Tonight S Us Inflation Data

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KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit fell against the US dollar today ahead of tonight’s key US inflation data, analysts said.
“The focus now is on the US consumer price index (CPI) which will be announced tonight. Consensus estimates showed US inflation for August could come in at 3.6% against July’s 3.2%,” said Bank Muamalat Malaysia chief economist Afzanizam Rashid.
“Markets are expecting the Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep the federal funds rate unchanged during the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next week.
“However, an elevated inflation rate would mean the Fed could lean on the hawkish side,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, AmBank Group’s economic research division in a note today said that the short-term resistance for the US dollar-ringgit falls at between 4.710 and 4.730, with support between 4.630 and 4.640.
The research note said the ringgit is likely to be supported by firm oil prices.
Meanwhile, the ringgit rose against the Japanese yen as traders digested comments from Japan’s top central banker on a possible early exit from its negative interest rate policy.
At 6pm, the local currency declined to 4.6785/4.6835 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.6755/4.6805.
The ringgit was up against the Japanese yen at 3.1742/3.1778 from 3.1849/3.1886 at Tuesday’s close, fell against the British pound to 5.8308/5.8370 from 5.8299/5.8361 and depreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 5.0200/5.0254 from 5.0131/5.0184 previously.
The local currency was traded mixed against a basket of Asean currencies.
It rose against the Thai baht to 13.0809/13.1003 from 13.1157/13.1349 at Tuesday’s close, edged up against the Indonesian rupiah to 304.3/304.8 from 304.7/305.2 previously.
The ringgit eased vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.4358/3.4400 from 3.4338/3.4378 and remained unchanged versus the Philippine peso at 8.25/8.26. - FMT

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