Ringgit To Trade Lower Against US Dollar Next Week

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- The ringgit is expected to trade lower at 4.48 to the US dollar next week, on rising expectations of the Federal Reserve (Fed) raising interest rates this month. Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the local note will be pressured further by the rise. "The market focus is now on the Fed policy meeting on March 14-15," he told Bernama. However, Nazri said the market will be somewhat cushioned by the good news brought on by Malaysia and Saudi Arabia's strong economic collaboration, coupled with healthy macro data, with leading economic indicators having shown an increase of 0.9 per cent. For the week just-ended, the ringgit moved between 4.4370 and 4.4520 against the US dollar. On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the ringgit traded lower at 4.4520/4570 against the greenback from last Friday's 4.4370/4440. Against other major currencies, the local note traded mostly higher. The ringgit appreciated versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1470/1523 from 3.1612/1666 last week and increased against the yen to 3.8960/8018 from 3.9440/9513. The British pound rose to 5.4439/4514 from 5.5622/5719 and improved against the euro at 4.6817/6883 from 4.7001/7084. -- BERNAMA