The ringgit remained almost unchanged against the US dollar in early trade on Friday despite the US Dollar Index (DXY) rising.
At 10.15am, the ringgit was at 4.4500, down 0.34% against the US dollar from its close of 4.4350 at the end of Thursday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid stressed that the DXY remained high supported by a series of interest rate cuts by central banks in the European economy.
He added that the European Central Bank (ECB) had cut its three main policy rates, namely the Deposit Facility Rate, Main Refinancing Rate and Marginal Lending Facility, by 25 basis points to 3.00%, 3.15% and 3.40% respectively.
He added that this development had strengthened the US dollar as the Federal Reserve (Fed) was unlikely to adopt the same measure due to the resilience of the US economy and its strong labour market.
All this has put the US dollar in a stronger position ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next week.
Meanwhile, the ringgit has outperformed other major currencies.
It strengthened against the British pound to 5.6222/6349 from 5.6591/6648 on Thursday. It also appreciated against the euro to 4.6452/6557 from 4.6612/6659 and rose against the Japanese yen to 2.9042/9109 from 2.9074/9106.
The local currency was also traded mixed against Asean currencies.
It recovered against the Singapore dollar, rising to 3.2923/2999 from 3.3008/3044 and rose against the Thai baht to 13.0510/0897 from 13.1058/1261.
However, the ringgit remained almost unchanged against the Indonesian rupiah at 278.1/278.9 compared to 278.1/278.5 on Thursday. It was also trading unchanged against the Philippine peso at 7.61/7.63, unchanged from the previous close.
