Ringgit opens higher against US$ Thursday, weakens against others

    KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar Thursday as the greenback lost ground after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) increased interest rates on Wednesday.


At 9 am(0100gmt), the local note was traded at 4.4300/4350 against the greenback from Wednesday's close of 4.4460/4500.


A dealer said the ringgit rebounded despite the Fed raising interest rates by 25 basis points to a range of 0.75 per cent to 1.00 per cent Wednesday.


"The rate hike was widely expected and was already factored into the market. It is not a surprise move," she said. 


Meanwhile, the dollar weakened against other major currencies following a less hawkish policy statement by Fed which indicated that there would be an additional two rounds of interest rate increase this year, albeit, at a gradual pace. 


The ringgit, however, traded lower against a basket of major currencies.


It shed against the Singapore dollar to 3.1564/1609 from 3.1463/1507 on Wednesday and vis-a-vis the yen, it fell to 3.9103/9151 from 3.8782/8821 yesterday.


The local note weakened against the British pound to 5.4365/4453 from 5.4250/4312 on Wednesday and was lower against the euro at 4.7556/7614 from 4.7243/7290 yesterday.
-- BERNAMA


EXCHANGE RATES ISSUED BY MALAYAN BANKING BHD: MARCH 16:


SELLING    BUYING     BUYING


TT/OD        TT              OD 


1 US Dollar 4.4990 4.3740 4.3640


1 Australian Dollar 3.4720 3.3570 3.3410


1 Brunei Dollar 3.2170 3.1100 3.1020


1 Canadian Dollar 3.3910 3.2850 3.2730


1 Euro 4.8410 4.6890 4.6690


1 New Zealand Dollar 3.1850 3.0540 3.0380


1 Papua N Guinea Kina 1.5290 1.2780 1.2620


1 Singapore Dollar 3.2165 3.1100 3.1020


1 Sterling Pound 5.5230 5.3780 5.3580


1 Swiss Franc 4.5020 4.3780 4.3630


100 UAE Dirham 124.2700 117.3300 117.1300


100 Bangladesh Taka 5.6970 5.3620 5.1620


100 Chinese Renminbi 65.3000 62.8000 0.0000


100 Danish Krone 66.9100 61.3000 61.1000


100 Hongkong Dollar 58.7700 55.4900 55.2900


100 Indian Rupee 6.9900 6.5300 6.3300


100 Indonesian Rupiah 0.0350 0.0314 0.0264


100 Japanese Yen 3.9870 3.8470 3.8370


100 New Taiwan Dollar NA NA 0.0000


100 Norwegian Krone 54.5100 49.9300 49.7300


100 Pakistan Rupee 4.3800 4.0900 3.8900


100 Philippine Peso 9.1200 8.5500 8.3500


100 Qatar Riyal 124.8800 118.7900 118.5900


100 Saudi Riyal 121.3700 115.2200 115.0200


100 South Africa Rand 36.1200 33.2100 33.0100


100 Sri Lanka Rupee 3.0600 2.7800 2.5800


100 Swedish Krona 52.4700 47.5800 47.3800


100 Thai Baht 13.7200 11.6000 11.2000


-- BERNAMA