At 8am, the local unit stood at 4.2065/4.2225 per dollar, firmer than Thursday’s close of 4.2185/4.2240.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) matched forecasts, but Initial Jobless Claims rose to 263,000 last week, well above market expectations of 235,000.

The US August CPI rose 2.9%, in line with consensus estimates and up from 2.7% in July. Core CPI held steady at 3.1% for a second straight month, after rising 2.9% in June.

“The CPI print was within expectations, clearing the path for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week,” he noted.

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

It eased to 2.8569/2.8680 against the yen from 2.8509/2.8548 at Thursday’s close, weakened to 5.7095/5.7312 against the pound from 5.6954/5.7028, and slipped to 4.9351/4.9538 against the euro from 4.9293/4.9357.

Against Asean currencies, the local note was mostly firmer. It strengthened to 255.5/256.6 against the rupiah from 256.2/256.7, inched up to 3.2817/3.2945 versus the Singapore dollar from 3.2829/3.2874, and improved to 7.35/7.39 against the peso from 7.37/7.39.

It, however, fell to 13.2576/13.3156 against the baht from 13.2432/13.2663 previously.