Ringgit opens lower as investors await more Fed signals from Jackson Hole

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar this morning as market participants awaited more signals from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium, said an analyst.

At 9 am, the local note fell to 4.6555/6590 against the greenback from 4.6465/6495 at Tuesday’s close.

The Jackson Hole Symposium – a yearly gathering of global central bankers – would be closely monitored, in particular the speech by Fed chairman Jerome Powell on how the US monetary policy would evolve going forward.

The event will commence from Aug 24-26, 2023.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted the Fed has been signalling that a hawkish stance on interest rates will be maintained.

“Richmond Fed president Thomas Barking indicated that the Fed might lose its credibility if it changes the inflation target of 2.0 per cent. Such remarks came amid calls by some prominent economists to consider raising the bar to above 2.0 per cent.

“It seems that the Fed might maintain their hawkish stance which will help support the US dollar in the near term,” he told BK.

However, Mohd Afzanizam noted that the data continues to indicate that the US economy is slowing with its existing home sales falling further to 4.07 million units in July compared to June’s 4.16 million units.

In the meantime, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies, except the Japanese yen where it declined to 3.1959/1988 from 3.1919/1942 at yesterday’s close.

It improved versus the euro to 5.0498/0536 from 5.0689/0721 and increased against the British pound to 5.9283/9328 from 5.9406/9444 previously.

At the same time, the local note traded lower against other Asean currencies but rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.4302/4331 from 3.4312/4336.

The ringgit depreciated vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.3033/3190 from 13.2928/3079 and was slightly lower against the Indonesian rupiah at 303.9/304.3 from 303.3/303.6.

It weakened against the Philippine peso to 8.26/8.28 from 8.24/8.25 on Tuesday. – BK