Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted that the market remains cautious ahead of the release of US employment data and the Institute of Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index later tonight, which will provide more clarity on the US interest policy stance.

“On that note, the currency markets will remain guarded with the US dollar expected to be well supported,” he said.

At 6pm, the ringgit climbed to 4.7180/4.7210 against the greenback compared with yesterday’s close of 4.7200/4.7225.

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

The local currency appreciated further against the Japanese yen to 2.9149/2.9169 from 2.9195/2.9213 at yesterday’s close, slipped vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9895/5.9933 from 5.9628/5.9659 and weakened versus the euro to 5.0737/5.0770 from 5.0556/5.0583 previously.

The ringgit also closed easier against its Asean peers.

The local note was marginally lower against the Singapore dollar at 3.4778/3.4803 from 3.4737/3.4757 at yesterday’s close and fell to 12.8346/12.8466 from 12.8021/12.8141 against the Thai baht previously.

It also eased against the Philippine peso to 8.03/8.04 from yesterday’s close of 8.02/8.03 and declined versus the Indonesian rupiah to 288.1/288.5 from 287.8/288.1.