Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the US Dollar Index fell 0.12% as Donald Trump announced that he will impose an import tariff of 50% for copper effective Aug 1.

“Such disruptive policies are set to raise the cost of doing business in the US and ultimately would undermine the long-term growth trajectory as prolonged uncertainties could take a serious toll on business,” he told Bernama.

In the meantime, investors will shift their focus to the release of initial US jobless claims data later today, as it stands out as a crucial economic indicator that could sway market dynamics.

At 6pm, the local currency rose to 4.2410/4.2505 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.2500/4.2540.

At the close, the ringgit was mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It strengthened against the British pound to 5.7716/5.7845 from 5.7787/5.7842 at yesterday’s close and was slightly higher versus the euro to 4.9751/4.9863 from 4.9780/4.9827.

However, it slipped against the yen to 2.9014/2.9081 from 2.8983/2.9012 previously.

The local currency was mixed against Asean currencies.

It improved vis-à-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3159/3.3236 from 3.3182/3.3219 yesterday but decreased versus the Thai baht to 13.0196/13.0548 from 12.9946/13.0128.

The ringgit traded flat against the Indonesian rupiah at 261.3/262.1 and was also unchanged versus the Philippine peso at 7.51/7.53.