The ringgit strengthened against the US dollar at the opening on Friday, as the US Dollar Index (DXY) continued to hover below the 100-point mark amid continued uncertainty over US-China trade tensions.
At 10.15am, the ringgit was flat at 4.4050 against the US dollar, the same level it closed at the end of Thursday when the US markets were on holiday ahead of Good Friday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Afzanizam Rashid said the ringgit appreciated by 0.08% to RM4.4073 against the US dollar on Thursday, in line with the weaker DXY.
He said the latest US initial jobless claims data fell to 215,000 last week, indicating relative resilience in the US labour market despite continued economic uncertainty.
The USD/MYR pair is expected to remain around RM4.40 amid the US dollar's weakness.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly lower against a group of major currencies.
It was weaker against the Japanese yen at 3.0893/3.1019 from 3.0849/3.0883 on Thursday, depreciated against the British pound to 5.8368/5.8574 from 5.8331/5.8391, but rose against the euro to 5.0027/5.0203 from 5.0102/5.0154.
The local note performed better against most Asean currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.3548/3.3705 from 3.3562/3.3601 and strengthened against the Thai baht to 13.1651/13.2491 from 13.2211/13.2417.
The ringgit strengthened against the Indonesian rupiah at 261.3/262.4 from 261.6/262.0 and rose against the Philippine peso at 7.76/7.80 from 7.77/7.79
