At 8am, the local currency surged to 4.0425/4.0565 against the greenback from last Friday’s closing of 4.0470/4.0535.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the market is expected to move in a narrow range today in view of the holiday-shortened week with the new year celebration on Thursday.

“Therefore, we expect the US dollar-ringgit to range around RM4.04-RM4.05 today,” he noted.

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

It appreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.5855/2.5948 from 2.5866/2.5909 at last Friday’s close, strengthened vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7592/4.7757 from 4.7629/4.7706 previously, and was almost flat versus the British pound at 5.4570/5.4759 from 5.4570/5.4657 last week.

Similarly, the local currency was firmer against its Asean peers.

It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1474/3.1588 from 3.1497/3.1550 on Friday, gained versus the Thai baht to 12.9913/13.0451 from 13.0212/13.0484, improved against the Indonesian rupiah to 241.3/242.4 from 241.6/242.2, and was up vis-a-vis the Philippines’ peso to 6.88/6.91 from 6.89/6.90 previously.