Also strengthened by higher global oil prices, the local currency opened the day’s trading at 4.2260/4.2310 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.2450/4.2465.

At the time of writing, Brent crude price had gained 0.26% to US$87.70 per barrel.

Investors can even look forward to better days ahead, according to SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes.

He expects the local note to rally in the days ahead on an expected increase in the arrival of Chinese tourists to fuel Malaysia’s tourism and services sectors.

He added that this would also lead to more capital inflows as investors continue to flock into Asian markets.

“Yesterday’s uptick in holiday travel and box office data in China was very positive, and while we might see a bit more of a positive move on that impulse, I think the market will really need to see improved consumption data in China before they take a leap of faith (for the ringgit to drop) below the 4.20 level,” he told Bernama.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US core durable goods orders data came in higher than expected, which tends to be positive for the greenback, while the US gross domestic product growth rate also came in higher than expected, at 2.9% versus the projected 2.6%.

“This is signaling that the US economy is doing better than previously predicted and this also tends to be bullish for the US dollar,” he said, adding that the numbers point to a possible appreciation of the currency over the next few days.

Meanwhile, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies.

The local note rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.2235/3.2278 from 3.2345/3.2359 at yesterday’s close and climbed vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.2466/5.2528 from 5.2583/5.2601 previously.

It also improved versus the euro to 4.6038/4.6093 from 4.6254/4.6270 yesterday and appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.2595/3.2639 from 3.2671/3.2685.