The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar on Monday following the decline in the US Dollar Index (DXY) after hitting a two-year high recently.
At 10.30am, the ringgit was at 4.4580, recovering 0.16% against the US dollar from its close of 4.4660 at the close of trading last Friday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the cabinet selection of US President Donald Trump had attracted significant market attention.
He stressed that the appointment of hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as treasury secretary seemed to moderate the optimism surrounding Donald Trump's latest policy agenda.
He may appear keen to ensure that financial markets function properly and keeping an eye on the growing fiscal deficit could be his top priority.
He added that the ringgit was expected to gain more ground as the DXY was undergoing a price correction phase following excessive profits after the presidential election on November 5.
However, the ringgit was trading lower against a basket of major currencies.
It weakened against the British pound to 5.6223/5.6368 from 5.5870/5.5932 at last week's close, fell against the euro to 4.6793/4.6914 from 4.6455/4.6507 and depreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.8965/2.9844 from 2.8906/2.8942 yen previously.
The local unit traded lower against its Asean currencies.
The ringgit weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.3244/3.3335 from 3.3101/3.3141 at Friday's close and depreciated against the Thai baht to 12.9608/13.0048 from 12.9068/12.9276.
It was almost unchanged against the Philippine peso at 7.58/7.60 from 7.58/7.59 and also against the Indonesian rupiah at 281.2/282.1 from 281.2/281.7 previously.
