The ringgit opened higher against most major currencies on Friday, but remained largely unchanged against the United States (US) dollar as investors took a cautious approach ahead of the release of Malaysia's preliminary estimate of second-quarter (Q2) gross domestic product (GDP) today.
At 10:15am, the ringgit was at RM4.0780, down 0.20% since it opened early Friday in Asian trading.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the market is now focused on the preliminary estimate of Malaysia's GDP growth for Q2 2026, with the consensus forecast at 5.3%.
He said Bank Muamalat projected a preliminary estimate of 5.1% GDP growth in Q2 2026, supported by continued strong external demand, particularly increased exports related to the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector.
According to him, GDP growth of more than 5% is considered a good performance for the Malaysian economy, especially if driven by investment activities, thus providing positive support to the value of the ringgit.
In other developments, he said the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose 0.28% to 100.763 points as several Federal Reserve (Fed) officials still supported higher interest rates to lower inflation to the 2% target.
Accordingly, he expected the ringgit to continue to move in the range of RM4.06 to RM4.08 as market sentiment was still focused on the Fed's interest rate decision.
At the opening of trading, the ringgit strengthened against the British pound to 5.4865/4959 from 5.4987/5034 when it closed on Thursday.
The ringgit also rose against the euro to 4.6593/6673 from 4.6678/6718, and strengthened against the Japanese yen to 2.5068/5112 from 2.5102/2015 yesterday.
Against regional currencies, the ringgit also strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1551/1610 from 3.1583/1612 at Thursday's close, and rose against the Thai baht to 12.1161/1430 from 12.1247/1399 previously.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was little changed against the Indonesian rupiah at 226.3/226.8 from 226.3/226.6 at Thursday's close, and remained stable against the Philippine peso at 6.60/6.62 from 6.60/6.61 previously.
