The ringgit opened mostly stronger against major world currencies in early trade today, but still recorded a decline against the US dollar following the currency's strengthening after the US labor market data showed a better-than-expected performance.
At 10 am, the ringgit was at RM4.0650, down 0.99% since it opened early Monday in the Asian session.
This development signals that the US economy remains resilient despite facing various global uncertainties.
According to Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose to 100.069 points after the country's labor market report for May showed an encouraging performance.
Non-farm Payrolls (NFP) data recorded an increase of 172,000 new jobs, far exceeding market expectations which only projected 85,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained stable at 4.3 percent.
He explained that the strong performance of the US labor market is likely to prompt the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to maintain a tight monetary policy stance when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting takes place on June 16-17.
This situation usually supports the strengthening of the US dollar as high interest rates make the currency more attractive to investors.
In major currency trading, the ringgit strengthened against the British pound to 5.3963/4029 compared to 5.4233/4287 at the previous close.
The ringgit also rose against the euro to 4.6630/6687 from 4.6882/6928. However, the local currency depreciated slightly against the Japanese yen to 2.5240/5273 compared to 2.5183/5209 previously.
Against regional currencies, the ringgit rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1343/1384 from 3.1390/1424 and strengthened against the Thai baht to 12.3219/3446 from 12.3433/3605.
However, the ringgit weakened against the Philippine peso to 6.58/6.59 from 6.55/6.56 and depreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 224.3/224.7 from 223.3/223.6 at the close of trading last Friday.
