Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted that the ringgit was initially stronger against the greenback at RM4.217 early in the morning session, but it gradually depreciated to RM4.246 in the afternoon.

“Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities resulted in a sharp rise in Brent crude prices to a high of US$78.22 (RM332.08) per barrel before prices retreated towards US$73.56 (RM312.29) per barrel,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index (DXY) gained 0.31% to 98.228 points.

“Hence, geopolitics has taken centre stage today, and it has benefitted the US dollar at the moment,” he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the local currency weakened to 4.2435/4.2480 from yesterday’s close of 4.2155/4.2245.

At the close, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

It fell versus the Japanese yen to 2.9448/2.9482 from 2.9329/2.9394 at yesterday’s close, weakened against the British pound to 5.7482/5.7543 from 5.7213/5.7335 previously, and decreased vis-à-vis the euro to 4.8906/4.8958 from 4.8765/4.8869.

The ringgit traded mostly lower versus its Asean counterparts, except for the Philippine peso, against which it remained flat at 7.55/7.56 compared with 7.55/7.57 yesterday.

It eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.3077/3.3118 from 3.2934/3.3006 at yesterday’s close, dropped versus the Thai baht to 13.0807/13.1018 from 12.9828/13.0173 previously, and retreated vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 260.2/260.6 from 259.5/260.2.