Ringgit closes lower against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed lower against the US dollar for the third consecutive day as more investors shifted interest towards safe-haven currencies, a dealer said.

At 6pm, the ringgit was traded at 4.4440/4480 against the US dollar from 4.4440/4480 yesterday.

Forex Time Chief Market Strategist Hussein Sayed said most of the Asian currencies weakened against the greenback after the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates for the second time in a decade.

"The 25-basis point increase was almost fully priced in and did not take market participants by surprise.

"But the strong reaction seen in the dollar and US bond yields was due to the new projections for 2017, which showed the central bank now expects three rate hikes for 2017 rather than only two seen in September," he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, another dealer said the rebound in global oil prices by three cents to US$53.93 per barrel did not give much support for the local note.

Against a basket of major currencies, the ringgit traded higher.

Vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar, the ringgit rose to 3.1049/1096 from 3.1190/1223 and versus the yen, it increased to 3.7846/7894 from 3.8580/8618 on Wednesday.

Against the British pound, the local currency appreciated to 5.5873/5949 from 5.6239/6307, while against the euro it improved to 4.6851/6921 from 4.7218/7269. — Bernama