The ringgit is seen to continue its strengthening trend since last week and is expected to be well supported due to increased expectations of interest rate cuts by the US throughout the year.
At exactly 9am this morning, the ringgit moved little at 4.6815 against the US dollar from where it closed at 4.6815 on Friday.
According to the Chief Economist of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid expects the ringgit to get a boost as the Federal Reserve (Fed) is committed to easing its monetary policy this year after the latest data revealed the US labor market is weakening.
In the United States, the NFP data for January 2024 and December 2023 saw a sharp change with an increase of 124,000 and 43,000 respectively.
He further said that the labor force participation rate remained stable at 62.5% for three consecutive months and the unemployment rate increased to 3.9% from 3.7% in the previous three consecutive months.
At the local level, Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) firm stance against the recent undervaluation of the ringgit prompted them to help raise the value of the currency, USD/MYR is expected to remain around RM4.67 to RM4.68 throughout the day.
Meanwhile, the local currency is trading lower against a basket of major currencies.
It eased against the British pound to 6.0190/0229 from 6.0050/0101 last Friday, eased against the Japanese yen to 3.1897/1919 from 3.1821/1850 last week and depreciated against the euro to 5.12518 from 5.12518/12518. before this.
At the same time, the local currency traded mixed against other Asian currencies.
It eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.5178/5203 from last Friday's close of 3.5160/5192 and was lower against the Thai baht at 13.2208/2342 compared to 13.2134/2321 last week.
It was unchanged against the Indonesian rupiah at 300.2/300.6, as well as against the Philippine peso at 8.42/8.44.
