At 9am, the local currency was trading at 4.2100/2140 against the greenback from 4.2025/2055 at Thursday’s close.

According to reports, the US government will withdraw one million barrels per day of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a period of six months in a bid to lower fuel prices and calm fears of shortages following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At the same time, the Russian government insisted that payments for gas imports be made in rubles or else the supply will be cut, according to Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid.

At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude oil slipped 4.88% to US$107.91 per barrel.

Afzanizam said the first quarter of 2022 has been extremely volatile and the military conflict, which began on Feb 24, has added a new dimension to market uncertainties.

“It was unsettling for the market, leading to pressure for the safe demand to prevail,” he said, adding that the US dollar index (DXY) rose 0.53% to 98.312 points as investors sought refuge from the market uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the reopening of Malaysia’s international borders today indicates that economic activity will be more active in the future, which should help accelerate domestic demand.

As a result, the ringgit is likely to remain lacklustre today, moving in a limited range.

At the opening, the ringgit was traded mostly mixed against a basket of major currencies.

The local unit depreciated against the British pound to 5.5303/5355 from 5.5158/5197 on Thursday and fell versus the Japanese yen to 3.4477/4513 from 3.4472/4502 previously.

The ringgit rose against the euro to 4.6592/6636 from 4.6698/6732 at yesterday’s close and remained unchanged against the Singapore dollar at 3.1033/1065 from 3.1033/1060 previously.