The ringgit opened stronger against the United States (US) dollar in early trade today, supported by weaker-than-expected US consumer confidence data.
At 10:07 am, the ringgit was at RM4.0860, down 0.10% since it opened early Wednesday in the Asian session.
This put pressure on the US dollar and helped strengthen the ringgit.
At the same time, investors are still cautious ahead of the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report scheduled for release this week, as the data is expected to be an important indicator of the direction of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate policy.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the US Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index recorded 91.2 points for June, lower than the market expectation of 94.4 points.
He said the market is expected to remain cautious ahead of the NFP report to be announced tomorrow night, with projections showing the US economy adding 114,000 jobs in June, compared to 172,000 jobs in May.
According to him, the current market sentiment is more focused on the US Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates, while the crude oil price factor is seen as less important despite the prices of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent being around $69.50 per barrel and $72.92 per barrel respectively.
In early trade, the ringgit was mostly traded higher against major world currencies.
The ringgit strengthened against the British pound to 5.4027/4153 from 5.4036/4096 at Tuesday's close.
However, the ringgit depreciated slightly against the euro to 4.6537/6645 from 4.6528/6580, while it strengthened against the Japanese yen to 2.5066/5126 from 2.5154/5183.
Against regional currencies, the ringgit's performance was mixed.
The ringgit strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1499/1577 from 3.1532/1570, was little changed against the Indonesian rupiah at 227.7/228.3 from 227.9/228.3, and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 6.64/6.67 from 6.65/6.67.
