The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar early this morning, following improved regional sentiment, thus supporting the currencies of emerging Asian countries.
At 11:00 am, the ringgit was at 4.1620, down 0.34% against the US dollar since opening early Thursday in the Asian session.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid explained that the minor strengthening came amid renewed uncertainty in the United States (US) following unexpected delays in the release of several key economic data.
He also informed that the US dollar index rose 0.65% to 100.202 after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics rescheduled the release date of the October jobs report to December 16.
The delay suggests that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is assessing policy without a complete set of data clues, thus signaling the possibility that the central bank will not cut interest rates at its meeting on December 9 and 10, 2025.
The ringgit is currently expected to trade in a range of 4.15 to 4.17 today as market participants take short-term profits ahead of the next US economic data release.
At the open, the ringgit opened higher against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the yen to 2.6416/6490 from 2.6598/6632, gained against the euro to 4.7858/7991 from 4.8013/8071 and surged against the British pound to 5.4166/4317 from 5.4451/4516 previously.
The ringgit was also mixed against ASEAN currencies.
It rose against the Thai baht to 12.7741/8191 from 12.7977/8191 yesterday, and rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1755/1845 from 3.1810/1851 previously.
However, it was little changed against the Indonesian rupiah to 248.2/249.0 from 248.2/248.6 yesterday, and was stable against the Philippine peso to 7.04/7.06 from 7.04/7.05 previously.
