By Sharifah Pirdaus Syed Ali

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- The ringgit ended slightly higher against the US dollar today for the second consecutive day, as the greenback continued to be pressured ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting beginning later today, dealers said.

At 6pm, the local currency stood at 4.0750/0790 against the greenback compared with Monday's close of  4.0760/0800.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said forex markets were cautious ahead of the FOMC two-day meeting beginning today

“The focus is on the statements to be issued from the meeting, with markets largely expected it to be dovish, in view of challenging global growth prospects as well as lower inflation rate.

“The Fed Fund Rate futures contract also appears to be pointing at a rate cut to happen towards the end of 2019 and early 2020,” he told Bernama.

On another note, he said other major central banks such as the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan were also expected to be very cautious in their monetary policy stance. 

“Such factors have provided support to the ringgit. In the meantime, the local currency would remain in a tight range,” he added.

The ringgit, however, was traded lower against other major currencies.

It decreased against the Japanese yen to 3.6613/6659 from 3.6556/6602 and slipped versus the euro to 4.6268/6321 from 4.6263/6312 on Monday.

The ringgit also depreciated versus the British pound to 5.4079/4149 from 5.4015/4084 and fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.0170/0204 from 3.0152/0184 yesterday.

-- BERNAMA