USD/MYR holds near 1-week high ahead of US CPI, Powell

The USD/MYR currency pair held not far from a one-week high of 4.4745 on Wednesday ahead of the key US CPI inflation data that could provide further clues over the Federal Reserve’s monetary easing path.

Annual headline consumer inflation in the US probably steadied at 2.9% in January, according to market consensus.

Annual core CPI inflation probably eased to 3.1% in January.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed on Tuesday that there was no urgency to reduce interest rates, since the central bank’s policy stance was now significantly less restrictive and the economy was faring well.

While labor market conditions have cooled from their prior overheated state, they are still solid, Powell said. And, inflation has further approached the 2% long-term target, though it was still elevated.

Powell is also expected to testify before Congress later today.

In the meantime, data out of Malaysia showed that retail sales in the country had risen 5.4% year-on-year in December, or at the slowest rate since January. This followed a 5.8% YoY surge in November.

The USD/MYR currency pair was last inching up 0.07% on the day to trade at 4.4700.