At 8am, the local note stood at 4.2220/4.2430 versus the greenback, strengthening from yesterday’s close of 4.2305/4.2355.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd’s chief economist, Afzanizam Rashid, noted that renewed trade tensions between the United States and China had led to a weaker US dollar.

“The US Dollar Index (DXY) declined by 0.26% to 98.793 points, as the escalating trade conflict is expected to reinforce the case for a potential interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.

“In light of this, the ringgit is likely to remain resilient, with the USD/MYR exchange rate expected to hover between RM4.22 and RM4.23,” he added.

The ringgit, however, traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except for the euro, which appreciated to 4.9165/4.9410 from yesterday’s close of 4.9213/4.9272. It softened against the British pound to 5.6579/5.6860 from 5.6469/5.6535 on Wednesday and declined vis-à-vis the Japanese yen to 2.7957/2.8097 from 2.7948/2.7983.

In contrast, the ringgit trended higher against Asean currencies. The local note improved against the Thai baht to 12.9708/13.0425 from 12.9933/13.0151 at yesterday’s close, rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.2585/3.2749 from 3.2648/3.2689 previously, gained against the Indonesian rupiah to 254.7/256.0 from 255.2/255.6, and appreciated against the Philippine peso to 7.27/7.31 from 7.29/7.30 previously.