At 9.01am, the local currency declined further to 4.1960/2000 versus the greenback from 4.1940/1975 at Friday’s close.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the market will closely monitor the US FOMC meeting on March 15 and 16.

Most analysts appear to agree that the FOMC will issue a 25-basis-point increase in the Fed Fund Rate, bringing it to 0.50%.

‘’The latest figure for inflation for February 2022 remains high at 7.9%, indicating that the Fed would need to pursue a monetary tightening to align the economy with its current state,’’ he added.

Given current concerns, the ringgit should stay around RM4.19 to RM4.20 today.

The ringgit strengthened against a basket of major currencies except for the Japanese yen, where it depreciated to 3.0767/0801 from 3.5858/5891 at Friday’s close.

The local unit was higher against the British pound at 5.4737/4789 from 5.4828/4874, rose to 4.5858/5902 vis-a-vis the euro from 4.5991/6030, and strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0767/0801 versus 3.0802/0832 on Friday.