Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the local currency was mostly higher against the US dollar by about 0.14% today, in tandem with the improvement in other regional currencies such as the Indonesian rupiah, Singapore dollar, and Philippine peso.

“However, issues surrounding the timing for a US rate cut and the anticipation of a forceful China economic stimulus continued to drive market sentiments,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said despite the continued resilience in US macroeconomic indicators, including a larger-than-expected drop in initial jobless claims and a rise in US 10-year yields to 4.15%, the ringgit strengthened on the day.

“This strengthening of the ringgit was attributed to the Chinese New Year holiday demand, suggesting that the recent move in the currency was a bit of an overshoot, possibly influenced by the weaker readthrough on China’s consumer price index data,” he explained.

At 6pm, the ringgit rose to 4.7595/4.7705 against the US dollar from yesterday’s closing rate of 4.7705/4.7745.

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

It gained vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1849/3.1925 from 3.2068/3.2100 at yesterday’s close, appreciated against the British pound to 6.0017/6.0156 from 6.0251/6.0302 and advanced versus the euro to 5.1241/5.1359 from 5.1445/5.1488.

The local note was also traded higher versus other Asean currencies.

The ringgit improved against the Singapore dollar to 3.5342/3.5429 versus 3.5471/3.5506 yesterday and was also better against the Indonesian rupiah at 304.3/305.2 compared to 305.0/305.5 previously.

It climbed versus the Philippine peso to 8.51/8.55 from 8.53/8.54 and was higher versus the Thai baht to 13.2540/13.2902 from 13.3191/13.3362 previously.