By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- The ringgit is expected to trade sideways against the US dollar next week, moving in the RM4.34-RM4.35 range, as markets await the US presidential election on Nov 5.

 Bank Muamalat  Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid is of the view that markets will continue to remain cautious ahead of important US economic data.

“Important data points would be US nonfarm payrolls, which are expected to slow (in growth) to 140,000 in October versus 254,000 in September, and the jobless rate, which is likely to stay unchanged at 4.1 per cent in October,” he told Bernama.

Mohd Afzanizam opined that the market has come to accept that the US economy is still robust and the US Federal Reserve would only ease its monetary policy gradually.

“It all boils down to the US election -- on who will win and what will be the main economic policies,” he said.

He noted that the International Monetary Fund this week revised US global gross domestic product growth lower by 0.1 per cent to 3.2 per cent for 2025.

“The main driver for the revision was due to weak European economies, geopolitics that can disrupt supply chain, slower China’s growth and protectionist trade policies,” he added.

The ringgit traded mixed against the greenback during the week amid uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the US presidential election, geopolitical developments in the Middle East, and the release of Malaysian inflation data that suggested the monetary policy would remain status quo in the near term.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the ringgit eased against the US dollar to 4.3405/3450 from 4.3045/3075 a week ago.

It also traded mostly lower against other major currencies.

The local note declined versus the euro, closing at 4.6977/7026 on Friday compared with 4.6674/6706 a week earlier, and weakened against the British pound to 5.6348/6407 from 5.6109/6148.

However, ringgit strengthened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 2.8554/8586 from 2.8708/8730 previously.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was mostly higher against ASEAN currencies.

It firmed versus the Philippine peso to 7.44/7.45 compared to 7.48/7.49 at the end of last week, ticked up against the Thai baht to 12.8425/8619 from 12.9579/9916 previously, and rose vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 277.3/277.8 from 278.0/278.3.

In contrast, the local currency slipped against its Singapore counterpart to 3.2870/2907 from 3.2791/2817 in the previous week.

-- BERNAMA