Ringgit ends higher against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit ended higher against the US dollar today as investors shifted interest towards emerging currencies, including the local note, dealers said.
At 6pm, the local unit stood at 4.2860/2890 against the greenback compared with Friday's close of 4.2910/2940.
FXTM chief market strategist Hussein Sayed said that the US dollar has been falling since the beginning of 2017 despite two rate hikes, in March and June.
"However, most recently it was the poor economic data that led investors to question the trajectory and speed of interest rates hikes," he said.
Sayed said Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's testimony to Congress on Wednesday and Thursday did not help the dollar either.
"She did not seem confident that inflation is on the right path and Friday's flat consumer price index raised concerns that the Fed may be done with hiking rates this year," he said.
The local note traded mostly lower against other currencies, except for the greenback.
The ringgit declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.1310/1343 from 3.1210/1243 on Friday and eased against the yen to 3.8108/8138 from 3.7886/7926.
Meanwhile, the local note weakened against the pound to 5.6039/6092 from 5.5624/5667 and trimmed against the euro to 4.9113/9152 from 4.8977/9016, previously. — Bernama