The ringgit opened slightly stronger against the US dollar on Thursday ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) decision on the overnight policy rate (OPR), with the market widely expecting the central bank to keep the rate unchanged at 2.75 percent.
At 10 am, the ringgit was at 4.2200, up 0.12% against the US dollar since it opened in early daily trading on Thursday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for July showed job openings fell below expectations to 7.181 million, compared to a consensus forecast of 7.38 million.
This sparked hopes of a possible US Federal Reserve rate cut in September.
Accordingly, the ringgit could see further gains.
He added that the ringgit closed 0.13 percent higher against the US dollar at 4.2257 on Wednesday, and is expected to trade in a range of 4.21 to 4.23 today.
Meanwhile, the US data will present the Non-Farm Payroll (NFP) report on Friday.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was mixed against major currencies.
It rose against the euro to 4.9126/9365 from 4.9223/9287 but fell against the yen to 2.8469/8609 from 2.8430/8469 and the British pound to 5.6620/6896 from 5.6614/6687.
Against ASEAN currencies, the ringgit traded mostly stronger.
It strengthened against the rupiah to 256.5/257.9 from 257.2/257.7, rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.2706/2867 from 3.2777/2822, gained against the peso to 7.35/7.39 from 7.37/7.38 and rose against the baht to 13.0454/1158 from 13.0529/0759.
