Ringgit Closes Slightly Higher Against Greenback

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 (Bernama) -- The ringgit bounced from Tuesday's loss to close slightly higher against the US dollar today as concerns over the possible US interest rate hike shifted investors' interest back to the emerging currencies, including ringgit. As at 6pm, the ringgit stood at 4.4460/4500 against the greenback compared with 4.4480/4510 on Tuesday. A dealer said more investors had moved away from the greenback on fears of another hike in the interest rate, which most likely would be announced after the two-day US Federal Reserve meeting ending later Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan has also began its two-day monetary policy meeting Wednesday, with talks that the Nippon Ginko is expected to hold its policy rate steady. On the home front, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against other major currencies. The local note weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1463/1507 from 3.1415/1456 on Tuesday and versus the yen, it went down to 3.8782/8821 from 3.8638/8674 Tuesday. The ringgit appreciated against the euro to 4.7243/7290 from 4.7322/7368 on Tuesday and against the British pound, it edged down to 5.4250/4312 from 5.3928/3973 Tuesday. -- BERNAMA