The ringgit extended yesterday's gains to open higher against the US dollar on Friday as more investors turned to potential currencies on rising expectations of a US interest rate cut next month and ahead of a US inflation report later today.
At 10am, the ringgit was at 4.2080, up 0.14% since it opened in early trade on Friday in the Asian session.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Afzanizam Rashid said the US Dollar Index (DXY) fell 0.29% to 97.897 points as the possibility of a US interest rate cut regained momentum.
US Federal Reserve (Fed) official Christopher Waller, who disagreed with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision to keep rates steady last month, reiterated his view that the Fed should cut the funds rate at its September meeting as he saw the weakness in the labour market becoming evident.
Meanwhile, the second estimate of US second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth rose higher at 3.3% from the first estimate of 3.0%.
The US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, will be released later today.
The ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It fell against the euro to 4.9099/4.9355 from 4.9089/4.9153 at Thursday's close, but rose against the Japanese yen to 2.8632/2.8784 from 2.8639/2.8679 and strengthened against the British pound to 5.6788/5.7085 from 5.6893/5.6967.
It also traded mostly higher against other Asean currencies.
The local currency strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.2777/3.2951 from 3.2809/3.2854 yesterday, depreciated against the Thai baht to 13.0207/13.0962 from 13.0142/13.0364, and rose against the Philippine peso to 7.387/7.406. It rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 257.0/258.5 from 257.6/258.1.
