Ringgit likely to continue uptrend next week

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit is expected to continue its uptrend momentum next week bolstered by the further strengthening of oil prices and weakness of the US dollar, an investment bank said.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the greenback's weakness came after a dovish US Federal Reserve statement which projected it would raise interest rates twice this year, rather than the four increases it had estimated in December last
year.
"It is more in line with market expectations," he told Bernama.
He said the statement lifted currencies such as the ringgit, euro, Swiss franc and yen which were back above the levels seen for seven months.
For the week just ended, the ringgit was traded lower earlier in the week before the US Federal Reserve's statement on Wednesday gave a boost to the local unit later in the week.
It ended at 4.0500/0560 on Friday against the greenback from 4.0860/0910 in the previous week.
The local unit eased against the Singapore dollar to 2.9801/9865 from the previous Friday's 2.9656/9707 and weakened versus the yen to 3.6395/4658 from 3.5927/5981.
It also weakened against the British pound to 5.8381/8475 from 5.8275/8366 previously, and depreciated against the euro to 4.5611/5695 from 4.5400/5471. — Bernama