Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the weaker performance of the greenback resulted in the decline of the US Dollar Index, which fell by 0.21% to 98.584.

“The trade tension, coupled with a dovish tilt by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), along with the ongoing US government shutdown, has raised the prospects of an interest rate cut in the US at the end of this month,” he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the local currency climbed to 4.2275/4.2300 against the US dollar from 4.2305/4.2355 at yesterday’s close.

However, the ringgit weakened against a basket of major currencies.

It slipped against the euro to 4.9284/4.9313 from 4.9213/4.9272 at yesterday’s close, softened further versus the British pound to 5.6792/5.6826 from 5.6469/5.6535, and was almost flat vis-à-vis the Japanese yen at 2.7943/2.7961 from 2.7948/2.7983.

The ringgit traded mostly higher against Asean currencies.

It was marginally higher against the Singapore dollar at 3.2630/3.2651 from 3.2648/3.2689 previously, strengthened against the Indonesian rupiah to 254.9/255.2 from 255.2/255.6, and advanced versus the Philippine peso to 7.27/7.28 from 7.29/7.30 previously.

The ringgit, however, depreciated versus the Thai baht to 12.9933/13.0151 from 12.8975/12.9182 at yesterday’s close.