At 8am, the local currency stood at 4.0245/4.0360 against the greenback, almost unchanged from Monday’s close of 4.0245/4.0320.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran offered some hope of de-escalation, but the situation remained highly fluid.

“Thus far, the US Dollar Index has hovered below the 100-point level, at around 99.981, while the US ISM services index fell to 54.0 in March from 56.1 previously, with the employment sub-index dropping to 45.2 from 51.8,” he noted.

He added that the ringgit closed 0.10% higher at 4.0282 against the US dollar on Monday.

“Amid the uncertainty, the ringgit is likely to trade within a narrow range of around 4.02 to 4.04 today,” he said.

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

It strengthened against the Japanese yen to 2.5200/2.5274 from 2.5241/2.5290 at Monday’s close, appreciated against the euro to 4.6443/4.6575 from 4.6483/4.6570, and rose versus the British pound to 5.3252/5.3404 from 5.3305/5.3404.

The local currency traded mixed against Asean currencies.

It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1317/3.1409 from 3.1346/3.1407 at Monday’s close and edged up against the Thai baht to 12.3504/12.3933 from 12.3831/12.4138.

It was little changed against the Indonesian rupiah at 236.2/237.0 from 236.2/236.8, and unchanged versus the Philippine peso at 6.70/6.73 compared with 6.70/6.72 previously.