USDMYR Technical Analysis

The US Dollar continues to rise against the Ringgit on Wednesday and is now trading at 4.6090, the highest price in 1998 when the price reached 4.7750. The upward movement continues due to the recent statements by Mr. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve (FED), who reaffirmed his commitment to lowering US inflation, the highest in more than 40 years. One of the biggest concerns when it comes to lowering inflation is that the most effective method of doing this is through raising the interest rate and this can have a negative effect on the economy, as with higher interest rates, households will spend less, thus reducing economic growth. However, Consumer Confidence data released earlier brought a higher-than-expected reading (108 real against 104.5 forecast). New home sales also came in much higher than expected (685k real against 500k forecast). Both figures show that the US economy is still heated and therefore has room for a tighter monetary policy. As long as economic data continues to show that the economy is doing well, the Fed is unlikely to change its economic stance.