As at 9am, the local unit remained at 4.2630/2680 against the greenback from last Friday’s close.

MIDF Research said the weaker US dollar was due to the reduced ‘safe-haven’ demand for the greenback following positive news on the Covid-19 vaccine development.

Meanwhile, a dealer said despite stable oil prices, investors are concerned by soaring tensions between the US and China, especially on democracy and human rights issues.

At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.58% lower at US$42.89 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against other benchmark currencies.

The ringgit improved against the Singapore dollar to 3.0645/0698 from 3.0658/0698 on Friday and rose against the yen to 3.96899747 from 3.9774/9836.

The local unit gained against the British pound to 5.3432/3512 from Friday’s 5.3467/3546 but marginally declined against the euro to 4.8658/8732 from 4.8649/8719.