The ringgit is expected to trade around 4.69 to 4.70 against the US dollar this week as the market focuses on the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting for March.
According to the Chief Economist of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will hold its monetary policy meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) before the FOMC.
The market will closely monitor any decision by Japan's central bank including the possibility of the BoJ ending negative interest rate policy (NIRP) and yield curve control (YCC) following the agreement by major Japanese companies to raise wages by 5.28 percent for 2024 which is seen to further increase inflation. .
He also said that the US Federal Reserve will focus on the critical aspect of the Fed Dot Plot which is also a survey among members of the central bank on the Fed Funds Rate.
Last December, Fed staff projected a three percent interest rate cut this year.
Any rejection of the accommodative policy level will increase the value of the US dollar and push the ringgit to trade around RM4.69 to RM4.70 this week.
Now, the ringgit is at 4.7020 against the US dollar from where it closed around 4.6840 last week.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded higher against most major currencies, including rising against the Japanese yen to 3.1637/1669 from 3.1821/1850 last week.
It also strengthened against the British pound to 6.0003/0060 from 6.0050/0101 but was lower against the euro at 5.1275/1324 from 5.1188/1231 previously.
In addition, the ringgit traded mixed compared to Asean currencies.
The local unit strengthened to 13.1480/1661 against the Thai baht from 13.2134/2321 last Friday, but was lower against the Singapore dollar to 3.5183/5219 from 3.5160/5192.
The ringgit was lower against the Indonesian rupiah to 301.5/302.0 from 300.2/300.6 last Friday and eased against the Philippine peso at 8.47/8.48 from 8.42/8.43 last week.
