THE ringgit strengthened at the opening on Thursday, supported by improving sentiment over potential easing of geopolitical tensions, even as markets remained cautious ahead of an anticipated address by United States President Donald Trump.
At 8am, the local currency rose to 4.0170/0370 against the US dollar, compared with 4.0240/0295 at Wednesday’s close.
Mohd Sedek Jantan, director of investment strategy and country economist at IPPFA Sdn Bhd, said market attention is firmly on Trump’s scheduled speech at 9am Malaysian time, with expectations that he may signal a winding down of the West Asia conflict.
“Markets will be looking for clarity on de-escalation terms, and most critically, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which remains central to global energy flows and overall market,” he said.
He added that the combination of a softer US dollar and resilient gold prices indicates investors are still favouring safe-haven assets, suggesting that confidence remains tentative rather than fully restored.
The ringgit also traded higher against a basket of major currencies
It strengthened against the British pound to 5.3430/3696 from 5.3507/3580 at the close on Wednesday, improved versus the Japanese yen to 2.5309/5436 compared with 2.5358/5394 at yesterday's close and gained vis-à-vis the euro to 4.6553/6785 from 4.6666/6730 previously.
At the same time, the local currency traded mostly higher against Asean currencies.
It went up versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1305/1465 from 3.1369/1414 at Wednesday's close, inched up against the Philippine peso to 6.67/6.71 from 6.68/6.69 yesterday, and climbed versus the Indonesian rupiah to 236.5/237.8 from 236.9/237.3 previously.
However, it slid to 12.3126/3823 against the Thai baht from yesterday's closing of 12.2726/2926. - April 2, 2026
