At 9am, the local currency rose to 4.4510/4.4535 versus the greenback from last Friday’s close of 4.4515/4.4545.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the Fed meeting on Wednesday and Thursday would be watched closely given the possibility that it might increase the Federal Funds Rate by 75 to 100 basis points.

“Hope for a change in their tack is perhaps somewhat remote, but it is always a possibility especially when there are signs of an economic slowdown based on the preliminary readings in the purchasing managers’ index which has fallen recently,” he told Bernama.

He also said the ringgit would likely remain fragile this week.

While it opened firmer versus the greenback, the local note traded weaker against a basket of other major currencies.

The local currency dipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.2019/3.2042 from 3.2011/3.2038 at Friday’s close and fell versus the British pound to 5.3243/5.3273 from 5.3187/5.3222 previously.

It also declined against the Japanese yen to 3.2599/3.2622 from 3.2389/3.2413 at the end of last week and depreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 4.5320/4.5346 from 4.5201/4.5231.