Ringgit Still Stuck at High Level, BOJ Meeting Becomes Focus!

<p>&nbsp;The latest report shows that the ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar as many investors took a cautious step and waited for future guidance in determining the state of global market volatility.</p><p><br /></p><p>At exactly 9 this morning, the ringgit was seen to be at the level of RM4.6950 compared to yesterday which closed at the level of RM4.6920.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to the Chief Economist of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, Dr Mohd Afzanizam said the local currency is expected to trade insignificantly today as investors are still looking at important data from the global bank policy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today's focus will be more on the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) policy meeting as currency traders are looking for clues about a change in its very loose monetary policy. Most economists expect the BOJ to keep its benchmark interest rate at -0.10% in this meeting.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>He also said that since the latest guidance by the Federal Reserve (Fed) shows the prospect of rate cuts remaining strong, he expects the ringgit to continue to flatten in a narrow range today.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, the ringgit is also trading lower compared to other major currencies. It gained against the British pound to 5.9411 from 5.9434 at Monday's close, weakened against the euro to 5.1269 from 5.1232 yesterday and eased against the Japanese yen at 3.2938 previously.</p><p><br /></p><p>Similarly, the local currency is trading lower than some other Asean currencies. It eased against the Philippine peso to 8.41 from Monday's closing rate of 8.40 and fell against the Indonesian rupiah to 302.6/303.3 from 302.4/302.9.</p><p><br /></p><p>The ringgit was almost unchanged against the Singapore dollar at 3.5248 from 3.5249 yesterday and fell against the Thai baht to 13.4335 from 13.4042 previously.</p>