Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the local currency was well supported after today’s Q2 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) announcement, which showed that Malaysia’s economic activities accelerated more than expected.

“However, the appreciation of ringgit has been quite steep and could lead to some profit taking activities which is quite common and perhaps healthy as the exchange rate would reflect the prevailing economic condition,” he told Bernama.

Bank Negara Malaysia governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said the local currency has been appreciating of late, with financial market participants expecting imminent policy rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve, which has softened the US dollar and alleviated pressure on regional currencies including the ringgit.

With these latest developments, the ringgit has appreciated by 3.1% against the US dollar year-to-date as at Aug 13, 2024.

At 6pm, the ringgit climbed to 4.4295/4.4350 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4350/4.4405.

At the close, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It went up versus the Japanese yen to 2.9792/2.9833 from 3.0092/3.0132 at yesterday’s close and increased vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8680/4.8741 from 4.8838/4.8899 but depreciated against the British pound to 5.7167/5.7238 from 5.7007/5.7078 previously.

Meanwhile, the ringgit traded higher against Asean currencies.

The local note gained versus the Singapore dollar at 3.3582/3.3627 from 3.3657/3.3699 at yesterday’s close and was higher against the Philippine peso at 7.74/7.75 compared with 7.79/7.80 previously.

It also inched up versus the Indonesian rupiah to 282.2/282.7 from 282.5/282.9 yesterday and strengthened vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.6445/12.6656 from 12.6805/12.7013 previously.