Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the latest FOMC minutes showed that the possibility of an interest rate hike cannot be ruled out by the markets.

“This is because several participants in the FOMC meeting suggested a two-sided description should be embedded in their communique to the public, especially when the inflation could stay above the target level,” he told Bernama.

As such, he said the ringgit was seen to gyrate against the US dollar around 3.9110 and 3.9193 today.

At 6pm, the ringgit eased to 3.9045/3.9125 versus the greenback from Monday’s close of 3.8945/3.9055.

The Philippine peso closed lower at 57.996 against the US dollar today, down from its previous close of 57.861.

At the close, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies including its Asean peers.

It appreciated versus the Japanese yen to 2.5221/2.5275 from 2.5356/2.5430 at Monday’s close, strengthened against the euro to 4.6073/4.6168 from 4.6204/4.6335, and rose vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.2730/5.2838 from 5.3137/5.3287 previously.

The ringgit improved versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0817/3.0882 from 3.0860/3.0949 on Monday, was higher versus the Thai baht at 12.5196/12.5521 from 12.5205/12.5619, edged up against the Indonesian rupiah to 231.1/231.6 from 231.4/232.2 at Monday’s close, and was easier against the Philippine peso at 6.73/6.75 from 6.71/6.74 previously.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed on Feb 17-18 in conjunction with the Chinese New Year public holiday.