At 6pm, the local currency weakened to 4.0365/4.0430 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.0240/4.0295.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the US dollar index (DXY) gained traction, rising 0.47% to 100.122 points.

“Brent crude prices went up as Trump’s prime-time address suggested no resolution to the war as he pledged more aggression towards Iran in the next two to three weeks and no plans to facilitate the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” he told Bernama.

At the time of writing, the benchmark Brent crude oil price rose 7.56% to US$108.7 per barrel.

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

It strengthened against the British pound to 5.3278/5.3364 from 5.3507/5.3580 at yesterday’s close, traded better versus the Japanese yen to 2.5295/2.5337 from 2.5358/2.5394 previously, and improved vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6517/4.6592 from 4.6666/4.6730.

The local currency traded mixed against Asean currencies.

It was marginally higher versus the Singapore dollar at 3.1364/3.1417 from 3.1369/3.1414 at yesterday’s close and improved against the Philippine peso to 6.66/6.68, as compared with 6.68/6.69 yesterday.

However, it fell versus the Indonesian rupiah to 237.4/237.9 from 236.9/237.3 and weakened to 12.3180/12.3447 against the Thai baht from 12.2726/12.2926 at yesterday’s close.

The regional currencies were also weaker against the US dollar.