The Malaysian ringgit (RM) opened easier against the US dollar today as the US dollar continued to strengthen following the recent hawkish stance by the Fed.
The latest economic data from the United States (US) continues to show that the economy remains on a strong footing amid persistent inflation and reiterates the higher narrative for longer US interest rates.
At 9.00am, the local currency eased to 4.7875/7910 against the US dollar from yesterday's close of 4.7840/7870.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Mohd Afzanizam said the Fed's hawkish stance continued to push the US Dollar Index (DXY) to 106,151 points from 105,951 points the day before.
He said the two-year US Treasury note yielded higher to 4.99% from 4.93% and the 10-year yield rose four basis points to 4.63%.
The Fed's new hawkish stimulus and strong economic data led to the rise in the US dollar. However, technical charts show that DXY is already overbought and a price correction is likely.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded higher against a group of major currencies.
It rose against the euro to 5.0929/0967 from 5.1050/1082 at yesterday's close, rose against the Japanese yen to 3.0963/0988 from 3.0980/1002 and strengthened against the British pound to 5.9499/9543 from 5.9499/9543.
The local note also traded mostly higher against Asean currencies except the Indonesian rupiah.
It rose against the Thai baht to 12.9855/9996 from 13.0053/0188 at Thursday's close and rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.5127/5156 from 3.5176/5201 yesterday.
The ringgit also rose against the Philippine peso to 8.34/8.35 from 8.36/8.37 on Thursday but eased against the Indonesian rupiah to 295.8/296.2 from 295.6/296.0 previously.
