Singapore’s ringgit will stay defensive next week, moving between 4.43 and 4.44 per dollar

An analyst said that the ringgit will likely stay strong against the US dollar next week, staying in the 4.43–4.44 band. This is because investors are still being cautious, which makes the greenback more popular as a safe haven currency.

Dr. Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, the chief economist at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, said that the next direction in the currency market will depend on the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which will take place on March 18th and 19th.

“Economists mostly think that the US Federal Funds Rate will stay the same, but traders and investors will be paying close attention to the Federal Reserve’s staff quarterly forecast.”

He told Bernama today, “This is especially true,” at a time when many big investment banks are calling for a US recession.

In other news, the Bank of Japan and Sweden’s Sveriges Riksbank will both hold their monetary policy meetings next week. It is believed that both banks will keep their policy rates at 0.50% and 2.25%, respectively.

Stephen Innes, managing partner of SPI Asset Management, thinks that the ringgit will lose even more value in the coming months as markets move from being cautious about tariffs to dealing with their full effects.

“Next week, I expect prices to move up and the ringgit to trade closer to RM4.46 as people continue to lose faith.”

“Because of this, the ringgit is likely to trade between RM4.43 and RM4.46, with a clear trend toward falling prices,” he said.

So far this year, the ringgit has gained 0.64% against the US dollar but lost value against other major currencies. At the end of the week, the local currency was worth 4.4410/4455 US dollars, down from 4.4110/4145 the week before.

When compared to other major currencies, the ringgit mostly went down.

It went up against the Japanese yen from last week’s 2.9909/9935 to 2.9809/9842, but it went down against the British pound from 5.7070/7115 to 5.7404/7463 and against the euro from 4.7903/7941 to 4.8194/8243.

The value of the local note also went down against ASEAN currencies.

Last week, it went down against the Singapore dollar from 3.3185/3214 to 3.3241/3277. It also went down against the Thai baht from 13.1124/1290 to 13.1820/2020, the Indonesian rupiah from 270.6/271.0 to 271.6/272.0, and the Philippine peso from 7.71/7.73 to 7.75/7.77. The Bernama