Ringgit ends almost unchanged versus greenback

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit ended almost unchanged against the US dollar today as the ringgit/dollar market turned cautious ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia's announcement of the fourth quarter gross domestic product data for 2017 on Wednesday.
At 6pm, the local note ended at 3.9370/9400 against the greenback from 3.9370/9410 last Friday.
Oanda Corp Head of Trading for Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes said the ringgit was better positioned than its regional peers to withstand the recent uptick in global volatility due to strong macro foundation.
"(However), the domestic economic landscape will come under intense glare when the fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures are released on Wednesday," he said.
Innes added that expectation of another round of interest rate hike were low due to dovish inflation overtones expressed by the central bank in January.
Meanwhile, the ringgit declined against the Singapore dollar to 2.9689/9713 from last Friday's 2.9604/9643 and eased against the yen to 3.6202/6240 from 3.6096/6143 previously.
The local unit strengthened against the British pound to 5.4504/4553 from 5.4795/4859 but was almost flat against the euro at 4.8279/8320 from 4.8279/8344 on Friday. — Bernama