At 6pm, the local currency depreciated to 4.7260/4.7300 against the greenback from last Friday’s close of 4.7225/4.7275.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Firdaos Rosli said the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and Bank of England are expected to announce the widely anticipated 75 basis points (bps) hike while Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) monetary policy committee (MPC) would likely settle for a 25bps increase on Thursday.

The BNM’s decision should serve as a clue to how well the Malaysian economy has performed in the third quarter, details of which will be unveiled next Friday.

Furthermore, Firdaos said, investors would likely keep a close watch on the incoming US jobs data, which would set the tone for the federal open market committee’s December 2022 meeting.

“As the UK’s latest inflation print has surpassed double-digit in September, the Eurozone is expected to follow suit in its forthcoming inflation announcement later today.

“As global oil prices remain elevated, inflation is expected to be hot during winter,” he said.

Firdaos said investors are expected to remain cautious for the week as it is inevitable that both the Fed and BNM would tighten their monetary policy given still elevated core inflation amid the latest inflation print.

“As such, we foresee the weekly trading range to be from RM4.72 to RM4.74,” he said.

The core inflation for the US stood at 6.6% in September against 6.3% in August while Malaysia recorded 4% core inflation in September versus 3.8% in August.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies except the British pound.

The local currency rose against the Japanese yen to 3.1833/3.1863 from 3.1976/3.2012, appreciated versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3409/3.3439 from 3.3436/3.3474 and strengthened against the euro to 4.7000/4.7040 from 4.7008/4.7058 at Friday’s close.

However, it fell vis-a-vis the British pound at 5.4647/5.4693 from 5.4455/5.4513 on Friday.