KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit is expected to see little movement next week as traders are likely to remain quiet ahead of the Christmas holiday, a dealer said.
“We expect activity across markets to drop next week as investors remain on the fence ahead of the upcoming Christmas holiday break,” FXTM Research Analyst Lukman Otunuga said.
He said the ringgit would also be mostly influenced by the US dollar’s performance for the rest of the year.
“The ringgit is seen appreciating if the US dollar continues to soften on growth fears and prospects of fewer rate hikes next year,” he said.
He said technical traders would continue to closely observe how the US dollar performs against the ringgit above the 4.1700 level.
“A breakdown below this point may encourage a strengthening ringgit towards 4.1620 against the US dollar in the near term,” he said.
The market will be closed on Tuesday for Christmas.
For the week just ended, the ringgit closed mostly higher against the US dollar with the market sentiment moved by oil prices and US Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting outcome on interest rates and future rate hikes.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the local note strengthened to 4.1790/1830 from 4.1830/1880 against the greenback.
It depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0490/0531 from 3.0393/0434 and weakened against the British pound to 5.2919/2986 from 5.2635/2710.
Vis-a-vis the Japanese yen, the ringgit went down to 3.7588/7634 from 3.6842/6895 and fell against the euro to 4.7758/7808 from 4.7239/7299. — Bernama
