The ringgit ended the week on a positive note to close marginally higher versus the US dollar today supported by rising crude oil prices amid improving global risk sentiment, an analyst said.
At 6 pm, the ringgit rose to 4.2410/2475 against the greenback from Thursday’s closing of 4.2450/2465.
SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said expectations for the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to keep production steady amid China’s travel frenzy helped boost oil prices higher.
At the time of writing, the benchmark Brent crude oil price climbed 1.26 percent to US$88.57 per barrel.
Innes noted that despite the US dollar gaining traction during the Asian trading hours, the ringgit remained attractive while investors await the Federal Reserve’s decision next week.
At the close, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note gained against the Singapore dollar to 3.2280/2332 from 3.2345/2359 at Thursday’s close and climbed vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.2453/2533 from 5.2583/2601 previously.
It also improved against the euro to 4.6159/6230 from 4.6254/6270 yesterday and appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.2658/2711 from 3.2671/2685.
