The ringgit continued to strengthen against the US dollar on Friday, ahead of the US inflation report later tonight.
At 10.20am, the ringgit was at 4.2230, up 0.09% against the US dollar since it opened in early trade on Friday in the Asian session.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the focus today would be on the US consumer price index (CPI) report, which was released despite a US government shutdown.
He said the consensus estimate pegged the US headline CPI to rise by 3.1% in September after rising 2.9% in August.
He said US tariffs on imports had started to have an impact on general prices with US Customs duty collections jumping 200% in the first nine months of the year to $174 billion.
So far, the US Dollar Index (DXY) has been hovering around 98 to 99 points. Therefore, expect the ringgit to trade in the range of RM4.22 versus RM4.23. today.
At the open, the ringgit traded mostly higher against major currencies.
It rose against the British pound to 5.6227/5.6353 from 5.6395/5.6442 and rose against the Japanese yen to 2.7655/2.7719 from 2.7687/2.7712 at Thursday's close, but weakened against the euro to 4.9021/4.9131 from 4.8976/4.9017.
The local note also traded higher against Asean currencies.
It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.2491/3.2570 from 3.2513/3.2542 at Thursday's close, and strengthened against the Philippine peso to 7.20/7.22 from 7.21/7.22.
The local currency also appreciated against the Thai baht to 12.8608/12.8977 from 12.8772/12.8937 at yesterday's close and rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 253.6/254.4 from 254.0/254.4.
