The ringgit continues to strengthen against the US dollar and other major currencies ahead of Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for the second quarter of 2024 due to be published on Friday.
At 10.30am, the ringgit was at 4.4300 which is down 0.34% against the USD from where it closed at 4.4170 during Wednesday's close.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd's chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said growing expectations of US interest rate cuts had also strengthened the ringgit.
A disinflationary trend remains evident in the United States with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in July coming in lower at 2.9% compared to the consensus estimate of 3.0%.
Also, core CPI moderated to 3.2% from 3.3% in the previous month.
He also said that since the expected US interest rate cut is gaining momentum and pushing the ringgit to rise against the US dollar and potentially approach its immediate support level of RM4.4005 throughout Thursday.
At the opening, the ringgit traded higher against a group of major currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.9969/3.0041 from 3.0027/3.0073 at yesterday's close, strengthened against the British pound to 5.6618/5.6746 from 5.6754/5.6838 and improved against the euro to 4.8618/4.8868 from 4.8618/4.848.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mixed against Asean currencies.
The local currency rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.3526/3.3604 from 3.3582/3.3634 at Wednesday's close and rose against the Thai baht to 12.5744/12.6097 from 12.6351/12.6578 previously.
However, it was little changed against the Indonesian rupiah at 281.6/282.4 from 281.7/282.3 yesterday and remained unchanged against the Philippine peso at 7.75/7.77.
