KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The ringgit continued its downtrend today to end lower against the greenback for the third consecutive day ahead of a decision on US interest rates tomorrow and as Japan made its first rate hike in 17 years, an analyst said.Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US Dollar Index rose 0.30 per cent to 103.893 points ahead of the US Federal Reserve decision on interest rates, weakening the local note.
“The focus today was also on the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise its overnight call rate from minus 0.1 per cent to between zero and 0.1 per cent and to discontinue the purchase of exchange-traded funds and Japan’s real estate investment trusts, which is part of their quantitative and qualitative monetary policy framework,” he told Bernama.Also weighing on sentiment is the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting which will commence tonight and end tomorrow.
However, the local note edged up against the Singapore dollar to 3.5249/5281 from 3.5253/5278 and performed better against the Philippine peso at 8.46/8.48 compared with 8.49/8.50 previously. — Bernama