Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said investors were cautious ahead of testimony by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to the US Congress later tonight.

In addition, he said the US Automatic Data Processing (ADP) employment figures due today will also be a key factor in driving market sentiments.

“Consensus estimates are projecting ADP employment changes to reach 149,000 in February (January: 107,000) with job openings at 8.8 million in January this year compared to last December’s 9.03 million,” he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the ringgit rose to 4.7295/4.7350 against the greenback compared with yesterday’s close of 4.7325/4.7380.

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

It fell against the British pound to 6.0207/6.0277 from 6.0027/6.0097 yesterday, slid versus the euro to 5.1438/5.1498 from 5.1348/5.1407 and weakened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1604/3.1643 from 3.1466/3.1505 previously.

Similarly, the ringgit traded lower against other Asean currencies.

It was lower versus the Thai baht at 13.2479/13.2704 from yesterday’s close of 13.2119/13.2320 and depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.5268/3.5312 compared to 3.5209/3.5253 yesterday.

It also slipped vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 301.1/301.6 from 300/300.5 yesterday and eased against the Philippine peso to 8.46/8.48 from 8.45/8.47.