KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit continued its uptrend in early trade on Tuesday, strengthening against the US dollar on buying interest in the local note, amid a decline in the US Dollar Index (DXY).
At 8 am, the local currency was higher at 4.3585/3665 against the greenback, compared with Monday’s close of 4.3615/3665.
The DXY fell 0.46 per cent to 99.010 points as United States (US) businesses were negatively affected by the US import tariff, said Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid.
The ringgit is expected to remain positive, with a bias toward a tight trading range, he told Bernama.
“At the current juncture, the USDMYR is quite close to its existing support level of 4.3634 and should the dollar-ringgit breach this level, the next support level will be located at 4.2607,” he added.
Mohd Afzanizam said the ringgit has performed remarkably well thus far, with the local note gaining 0.22 per cent against the greenback to 4.3640 yesterday.
Meanwhile, other Asian currencies were mixed yesterday, with the Thai baht and the Indonesian rupiah depreciating against the US dollar by 0.02 per cent and 0.15 per cent, respectively, while the Korean won and the Indian rupee gained 0.36 per cent and 0.49 per cent, respectively.
On the global front, he said calls for a US interest rate cut have become more visible with the 2-year US Treasury note yielding five basis points lower at 3.69 per cent.
At the opening, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It fell versus the Japanese yen to 3.0657/0718 from 3.0406/0443 at Monday’s close, weakened vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9722/9813 from 4.9507/9564 yesterday, and slipped against the British pound to 5.8552/8660 from 5.8195/8262 previously.
Meanwhile, the ringgit performed lower and nearly flat against its ASEAN peers.
It decreased against the Singapore dollar to 3.3284/3350 from 3.3198/3238 at Monday’s close and slid against the Thai baht to 13.0619/0945 from 12.9517/9743.
The local note, however, traded almost flat vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 7.72/7.74 from 7.73/7.74 on Monday, and little changed against the Indonesian rupiah to 258.5/259.1 from 258.7/259.1.
