The ringgit opened lower against the USD on Friday as investors turned to safe-haven currencies amid a high-risk global economic outlook.
At 9am, the ringgit weakened to 4.7145 against the US dollar from Thursday's close of 4.7050.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd's Chief Economist, Dr Afzanizam said investors still maintained their holdings on the US dollar currency with the index remaining above 105 points after other major central banks had started lowering their policy rates. However, the Fed still kept it at a high level.
The Fed still feels the need to keep the benchmark rate high to keep the inflation rate towards the 2% target. The ringgit is expected to be stable against the USD today.
The latest local export data saw 7.3% growth in May which was much higher than the consensus estimate. This is likely to indicate that Malaysia is expected to benefit from a recovery in external demand.
In addition, this also increases the hope that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth target of 4.0 to 5.0 percent in 2024 will be achieved.
The ringgit is trading high against major currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.9634 from 2.9711 previously, rose against the British pound at 5.9667 from 5.9815 and the euro to 5.0478 from 5.0498 previously.
However, the local note traded mostly lower against Asean currencies.
It slipped against the Thai baht to 12.8300 from 12.8008 yesterday and eased against the Indonesian rupiah to 286.9 from 286.5.
The ringgit rose strongly against the Singapore dollar to 3.4804 from 3.4807 and was almost unchanged against the Philippine peso at 8.01.
