Ringgit likely to remain bearish next week

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit is likely to remain bearish against the US dollar next week, with the greenback staying firm on heightened expectations of a US interest rate hike in the near term.
Hong Leong Bank Senior Manager for Bond and Economic Research Choong Yin Pheng said the ringgit's performance would continue to be influenced by the greenback's movement.
"Any hawkish statement by the Federal Reserve and positive US economic data to be released later today and next week will continue to pressure the ringgit and most Asian emerging currencies downwards," she told Bernama.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday refrained from changing its oil output policy after members failed to agree on a new production ceiling.
"The decision is much anticipated by the market and the reaction is more or less muted and will not greatly affect our local currency," she said.
The ringgit is likely to remain bearish next week, trading at between the 4.10 to 4.22 level against the US dollar, she added.
For the week just ended, the ringgit was traded lower for four consecutive days against the greenback, except for Friday.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the local unit was lower at 4.1430/1480 against the US dollar from 4.0780/0840 in the previous week.
It also ended lower against other currencies.
The ringgit declined against the yen to 3.8058/8121 from last Friday's 3.7171/7236, and eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.0098/0154 from 2.9647/9706 previously.
It depreciated against the euro to 4.6182/6250 from 4.5588/5671 and softened against the British pound to 5.9788/9876 from 5.9743/9839 last Friday. — Bernama