Against regional currencies, the ringgit was mostly higher; however, it was lower against other major currencies.

SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the local currency strengthened on renewed optimism over a potential Iran peace proposal reportedly being considered by the White House, which helped reduce geopolitical risk premiums and softened the US dollar at the margins.

“The ringgit’s gains were not solely driven by geopolitical developments, but also underpinned by broader structural trends, particularly strong global demand for computing power and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

“In this environment, capital continues to flow into semiconductor-linked economies, with Malaysia well-positioned to benefit from this trend,” he added.

Meanwhile, this week will also see a high-stakes sequence of policy decisions from the Bank of Japan, the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

The US federal open market committee meeting will be held on April 28-29.

At 6pm, the ringgit rose to 3.9505/3.9545 against the US dollar from 3.9630/3.9670 at last Friday’s close.

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

It depreciated against the euro to 4.6387/4.6434 from last Friday’s close of 4.6312/4.6358, down versus the Japanese yen to 2.4810/2.4837 from 2.4808/2.4834, and reduced against the British pound to 5.3525/5.3580 from 5.3429/5.3483 previously.

At the same time, the local currency traded mostly higher against regional peers.

It appreciated against the Thai baht to 12.2129/12.2309 from last Friday’s close of 12.2183/12.2363, gained against the Indonesian rupiah to 229.5/229.8 from 230.0/230.3, and expanded against the Philippine peso to 6.50/6.51 from 6.52/6.53 previously.

However, the local note slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.1018/3.1052 from 3.1009/3.1043 at Friday’s close.