At 8am, the local note climbed 30 percentage in points (pips) to 4.4170/4290 versus the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.4200/4280.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid believed that the final print for the Q2 data to be announced on Friday would not be far from the advance estimates of 5.8% growth.

“The US consumer price index (CPI) for July is due on Wednesday, the producer price index (PPI) on Tuesday, with the disinflationary trend to be maintained,” he added.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Q2 2024 GDP will be out on Thursday with consensus estimates showing a 2.1% year-on-year growth after the economy contracted 1.8% in Q1 2024.

“Hence, the Bank of Japan monetary policy stance will also be in the spotlight as traders await clues for further unwinding of the yen carry trade,” he explained.

As such, he said the USD/MYR would linger near its immediate support level of RM4.40 today.

Meanwhile, the local note traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It firmed vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8198/4.8329 from 4.8253/4.8340 and appreciated versus the British pound to 5.6303/5.6456 from 5.6373/5.6475 at Friday’s close but fell against the Japanese yen to 3.0035/3.0121 from 3.0019/3.0075 previously.

Nevertheless, the ringgit traded mixed against Asean currencies.

It was up against the Singapore dollar to 3.3348/3.3442 from 3.3381/3.3444 on Friday and better against the Indonesian rupiah at 277.3/278.2 versus 277.5/278.2.

However, the local note eased vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.5280/12.5795 from 12.5234/12.5514 and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 7.71/7.74 from 7.71/7.73.