The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar and a basket of currencies including ASEAN currencies today, amid cautious sentiment amid heightened geopolitical risks.
At 10am, the ringgit was at 4.2430 against the US dollar, unchanged since opening in early trade on Monday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Afzanizam Rashid said the market was affected by the Israeli-Iran military conflict over the weekend.
He added that the risk of the conflict was wide in scope affecting US military bases and assets in the Middle East region and opening up risk aversion in the currency market.
The main concern now is how the conflict will translate into higher oil prices, as Brent crude oil hovered around $75.67 per barrel after briefly hitting $78.32 per barrel in early trade.
Based on the current oil price situation, it seems that the risk aversion mode has yet to translate into significantly higher crude prices.
At the open, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.9300/2.9467 from 2.9448/2.9482 at Friday's close, strengthened against the British pound to 5.7379/5.7697 from 5.7482/5.7543 and rose against the euro to 4.8872/4.9143 from 4.8906/4.8958 previously.
The ringgit also advanced higher against its Asean counterparts.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.3020/3.3206 from 3.3077/3.3118 at Friday's close, rose against the Thai baht to 13.0310/13.1101 from 13.0807/13.1018.
It rose against the 259 rupiah to 2.58. 260.2/260.6 and increased against the Philippine peso to 7.54/7.59 from 7.55/7.56.
