US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s statement on interest rate also offered some hints about the central bank’s next steps going into 2023.

At 9am, the local note was traded at 4.4110/4.4200 against the greenback compared with 4.4195/4.4260 at the close yesterday.

ActivTrades Trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the interest rate hike was in line with expectations.

“According to Powell, inflation has shown signs of a decrease but is still high, which could force the Fed to maintain a tighter stance over the next few months,” he said.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.

The local note rose against the British pound to 5.3896/5.3975 from 5.4410/5.4521 at yesterday’s close and was marginally better versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2549/3.2602 from 3.2554/3.2625 yesterday.

It gained against the Japanese yen to 3.2128/3.2177 from 3.2296/3.2364 yesterday but eased versus the euro to 4.7032/4.7101 from 4.6845/4.6940 previously.