The ringgit opened stronger at around RM4.34 against the US dollar, reaching an annual high when the Federal Reserve (Fed) is on track to cut interest rates.
At exactly 10.20 am, the ringgit was at a position of 4.3420, which is a strong 0.69% compared to 4.3720 at the close last Friday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd's Chief Economist, Dr Afzanizam said Jerome Powell's speech during the Jackson Hole Symposium last Friday indicated a policy shift from containing the risk of higher inflation to avoiding a fall in the labor market.
He also said that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on September 17 and 18 will see the Fed start easing its monetary policy.
The ringgit is expected to continue to rise against the US dollar and may move towards its immediate support level of 4.3000 in the near future.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded lower against a group of major currencies.
The local currency weakened against the Japanese yen to 3.0231/3.0362 from 2.9914/2.9956 at Friday's close, eased against the euro to 4.8689/4.8896 from 4.8604/4.8665 late last week and the British pound depreciated to 5.7501/5.7745 from 5.7391/5.7463 earlier.
On the other hand, the ringgit showed a mixed performance against Asean currencies.
It rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 280.8/282.2 from 282.1/282.7 at Friday's close and rose against the Philippine peso at 7.71/7.75 from 7.75/7.76 previously.
However, the local currency eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.3447/3.3595 from 3.3410/3.3454 on Friday and fell against the Thai baht to 12.8106/12.8734 from 12.7575/12.7810.
