The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar this morning driven by continued confidence in Malaysia's economic fundamentals despite the US dollar strengthening following stronger US jobs data.
At 9:48am, the ringgit was trading at 3.9070, up 0.13% 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 encouraging domestic economic indicators and continued confidence in the country's economic trajectory have supported demand for the ringgit.
He also noted that Malaysia's increasingly strong economic position is expected to continue to maintain the attractiveness of the local currency.
Accordingly, the US dollar-ringgit currency pair is forecast to move in a range of RM3.91 to RM3.93 today.
According to Mohd Afzanizam, the stronger-than-expected US labor market data boosted the US Dollar Index (DXY) by 0.13% to 96.920 points, reflecting that US economic data remains resilient.
At the same time, NFP employment data recorded an increase of 130,000 in January, far exceeding the consensus estimate of 66,000.
The US unemployment rate also fell to 4.3% from 4.4%, while the labor force participation rate increased slightly to 62.5% from 62.4%.
At the opening, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.5514/5600 from 2.5527/5566 yesterday, rose against the euro to 4.6431/6586 from 4.6611/6683 and rose against the British pound to 5.3266/3443 from 5.3266/3443 previously.
The ringgit also traded stronger against its ASEAN counterparts.
It gained against the Indonesian rupiah to 232.9/233.7 from 233.0/233.4, gained against the Thai baht to 12.5728/6227 and edged up against the Singapore dollar to 3.0980/1086 from 3.0990/1040.
However, it was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 6.71/6.73 from 6.71/6.72 previously.
