At 8am, the local currency surged to 4.0410/4.0495 against the greenback from 4.0425/4.0515 at Wednesday’s close. The ringgit hit 4.0450/4.0443 on Feb 26, 2021.

The market was closed yesterday in observance of Christmas Day.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said that in light of the holiday-shortened week, currency markets are likely to remain lacklustre today.

He noted that investors have remained constructive on the ringgit, with the US dollar-ringgit at its strongest level in five years.

“Typically, there could be some profit-taking activities, especially when the market has priced in all the positive news.

“Hence, we expect ringgit to continue trading in a narrow range of RM4.04-RM4.05 today,” he said.

At the opening, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.

It appreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.5874/2.5930 from 2.5940/2.5999 at Wednesday’s close, gained versus the British pound to 5.4578/5.4693 from 5.4647/5.4768, and strengthened vis-a-vis the euro to 4.76154./4.7715 from 4.7697/4.7804 previously.

The local currency also traded higher against its Asean peers.

It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1460/3.1531 from 3.1506/3.1578 on Wednesday, improved versus the Thai baht to 12.9990/13.0352 from 13.0486/13.0705 earlier, and was up vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 6.86/6.89 from 6.88/6.90 previously.

However, the local note was slightly easier against the Indonesian rupiah at 241.3/242.0 compared to 241.0/241.8 previously.