The ringgit continued to strengthen against the US dollar on Thursday, amid weak US economic data.
At 10.15am, the ringgit was at 4.2280, up 0.17% against the US dollar from its close of 4.2345 at the end of trading on Wednesday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the US Dollar Index (DXY) fell 0.47% to 98.631 points as the US inflation rate fell less than expected.
The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached 2.4% in May compared to the consensus estimate of 2.5%. The core CPI print was 2.8% compared to 2.9% in the consensus survey.
Accordingly, the DXY is likely to remain below 100 points for some time, which will benefit emerging market currencies including the ringgit.
Afzanizam also expects the ringgit to trade in an upward trend in the range of RM4.22 and RM4.23.
At the opening, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It depreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.9344/2.9415 from 2.9187/2.9207 on Wednesday, weakened against the British pound to 5.7399/5.7535 from 5.7166/5.7200 and fell against the euro from 4.8693/4.8808 from 4.8426/4.8454 previously.
Meanwhile, the local currency traded mostly lower against its Asean peers.
It rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 260.1/260.8 from 260.4/260.6 at Wednesday's close and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 7.57/7.59.
However, the local currency depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.2953/3.3033 from 3.2925/3.2947 at yesterday's close and depreciated against the Thai baht to 12.9949/13.0333 from 12.9729/12.9870 previously.
