The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar (US) and a number of other major currencies on Monday, supported by USD weakness amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East.
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At 10:12am, the ringgit was at 4.0300 against the USD, up 0.05% since it opened early Monday in Asian trading.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid explained that investors' cautious sentiment towards the US President's action targeting Iranian infrastructure caused the USD to remain low.
At the same time, the price of Brent crude oil rose to $110.47 per barrel, putting inflationary pressure that is expected to continue in the coming months, while business and consumer sentiment remains weak.
He forecast USD/MYR to be in the range of RM4.03 to RM4.05 in the near term, in line with the USD Index (DXY) rising by 0.23 percent to 100.29 points.
Apart from the USD, the ringgit also strengthened against other currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.5172/2.5299, the euro to 4.6299/4.6529, and the British pound to 5.3041/5.3304.
Among ASEAN currencies, the ringgit also performed positively, strengthening against the Singapore dollar to 3.1235/3.1398, the Philippine peso to 6.67/6.72, the Indonesian rupiah to 236.8/238.2, and the Thai baht to 12.2918/12.3637.
