By Niam Seet Wei

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 -- The ringgit reversed earlier losses to revisit the 4.03 level against the US dollar today despite cautious trading mode ahead of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell’s online event later in the day.

At 6 pm, the local note was quoted at 4.0370/0420 versus the greenback compared with 4.0410/0460 at Wednesday’s close.

According to reports, Powell is expected to offer more clues on the Fed’s interest rate direction during the webinar hosted by Princeton University. 

Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said the rising US bond yields and Powell’s speech scheduled for later today prompted market participants to stay on the sidelines amid sliding oil prices. 

“However, I do think crude oil will go higher in the coming weeks, so oil-linked currencies like the ringgit will remain in favour, even with uncertainty on the domestic front due to the spike in COVID-19 cases,” he told Bernama. 

At the time of writing, the benchmark Brent crude price fell 0.14 per cent to US$55.98 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the ringgit also traded stronger against other major currencies at the closing bell.

It strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0466/0513 from 3.0498/0543 at Wednesday’s close and rose against the yen to 3.8821/8880 from 3.8912/8964 yesterday.

The local unit appreciated vis-a-vis the pound to 5.5105/5189 from 5.5313/5398 yesterday and firmed against the euro to 4.9106/9183 from 4.9252/9325 previously.

-- BERNAMA