Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the easing of US-China trade tensions has improved sentiment towards regional currencies, including the ringgit.

“In the afternoon session, the local currency continued to strengthen against the US dollar, with the US dollar-ringgit pair reaching RM4.1853,” he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the ringgit rose to 4.1860/4.1930 against the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.1935/4.1985.

At the close, the ringgit inched up against the Japanese yen to 2.7162/2.7210 from 2.7266/2.7300 at yesterday’s close, strengthened against the British pound to 5.5025/5.5117 from 5.5304/5.5370 and rose versus the euro to 4.8453/4.8534 from 4.8716/4.8774 previously.

The local note traded mostly higher against Asean currencies.

It improved against the Singapore dollar to 3.2185/3.2241 from 3.2285/3.2326 at yesterday’s close, advanced vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.9429/12.9702 from 12.9501/12.9723, was higher against the Indonesian rupiah at 251.7/252.2 from 252.0/252.4 and was almost flat against the Philippine peso at 7.12/7.14 from 7.12/7.13 previously.