The ringgit touched an intraday high of RM4.663 versus the greenback and retreated to RM4.676 later in the afternoon.
Year-to-date, the ringgit stands out as the second best-performing currency in the Asian region, experiencing a modest depreciation of 1.56% against the US dollar, following closely behind the Indian rupee which eased by 0.37% against the greenback.
The Brunei dollar and Singapore dollar each saw a 1.7% decline, while the Indonesian rupiah slipped by 4.57% and the Philippine peso slid by 5.15% versus the US dollar.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the lower-than-expected US Consumer Price Index (CPI) which came in at 3% (against the consensus estimate of 3.1%) suggested that the disinflationary trend is proceeding well.
“Plus, US Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Jerome Powell in his testimony to the US Congress, suggested that the interest rate cut could happen and that the inflation rate doesn’t need to go lower than 2% before they can commence the monetary easing decision.
“It seems that the September timeline would be the probable time for the Fed to start reversing its restrictive stance.
“This has certainly helped to improve the value of the ringgit,” Afzanizam told Bernama.
At 6pm, the ringgit traded firmer at 4.6700/4.6730 against the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.6855/4.6895.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded lower against other major currencies.
It weakened against the Japanese yen to 2.9338/2.9359 from yesterday’s close of 2.9003/2.9030, slid against the euro to 5.0838/5.0870 from 5.0819/5.0862, and depreciated against the British pound to 6.0481/6.0520 from 6.0335/6.0387 previously.
However, it traded mostly firmer against Asean currencies, edging up against the Singapore dollar to 3.4768/3.4793 from 3.4774/3.4807 yesterday, rising against the Philippine peso to 8.00/8.00 from 8.03/8.05 and appreciated against the Thai baht to 12.9023/12.9160 from 12.9184/12.9341 previously.
The local unit marginally declined against the Indonesian rupiah to 289.3/289.7 from 289.2/289.7 yesterday.