The Malaysian Ringgit (RM) currency remained at a better level on Monday trading thanks to resilient sentiment ahead of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for the second quarter of 2024 this week.
At 10 am, the ringgit was at a position of 4.4300 which is a slight decrease of 0.34% against the US dollar since it closed at 4.4200 at the close of Friday last week.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist, Dr Afzanizam believes the second quarter GDP figures to be announced this weekend are predicted to be not far from the preliminary estimate of 5.8% growth.
Meanwhile, Japan's second-quarter GDP figures presented on Thursday with consensus estimates showed growth of 2.1% year-on-year after its economy contracted 1.8% in the first quarter of the year.
The stance of the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) monetary policy will also be in focus as investors wait for indications of a further sell-off in the yen's recent trade.
He said, USD/MYR is expected to keep moving closer to its support level at RM4.40 on Monday.
Meanwhile, the local currency traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It was firm with the euro to 4.8198/4.8329 from 4.8253/4.8340 and higher against the British pound to 5.6303/5.6456 from 5.6373/5.6475. However, the ringgit lost ground against the Japanese yen, falling to 3.0035/3.0121 from 3.0019/3.0075.
Nevertheless, the ringgit traded mixed compared to Asean currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.3348/3.3442 from 3.3381/3.3444 on Friday and was better against the Indonesian rupiah at 277.3/278.2 versus 277.5/278.2.
However, the local currency eased against the Thai baht to 12.5280/12.5795 from 12.5234/12.5514 and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 7.71/7.74 from 7.71/7.73.
