The Malaysian ringgit (RM) opened better in the early local session against the US dollar and it also mostly rose against other major currencies.
At 8 am, the ringgit rose to 4.6670/6735 against the US dollar from 4.6705/6735 at Wednesday's close.
According to Dr Afzanizam, Chief Economist of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, said the ringgit is likely to continue to strengthen following the expectation that Malaysia's monetary policy will remain positive until the end of this year.
In addition, the Bank of Canada (BoC) lowered its rate by 25 basis points proving that the momentum of monetary policy easing is becoming more significant in developed countries as central banks turn to efforts to ensure continued growth.
At the same time, the local market expects Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to continue to be cautious about inflation following pricing behavior among firms and inflation expectations may trigger an upward trend.
He also said that BNM needs to maintain its current monetary policy stance that can support the ringgit.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly higher than the major currency groups.
The ringgit eased against the Japanese yen at 3.0327/0371 from 3.0173/0196 at the close of trade yesterday but rose against the British pound to 6.0181/0265 from 6.0291/0330 and rose against the euro to 5.0576/0647 from 5.0633/0665 yesterday.
In addition, the ringgit traded mixed against Asean currencies and was unchanged against the Indonesian rupiah and the Philippine peso.
The local unit strengthened slightly against the Singapore dollar to 3.4722/4776 from 3.4727/4752 but was lower against the Thai baht at 12.9144/9392 from 12.9133/9266.
Against the Indonesian rupiah, the ringgit remained at 287.7/288.3 from 287.9/288.3 and flat against the Philippine peso at 7.98/8.00 from 7.99/8.00.
