Kuala lumpur: The ringgit ended higher against the American dollar on Tuesday as the greenback extended its decline following the weak US jobs report on Friday and ahead of a revision in US job growth figures for the 12 months through March later today. At 6 pm, the local note bounced to 4.2025/2080 from Monday’s close of 4.2165/2205.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted that the greenback continued its retreat in tandem with the decline in the US Dollar Index (DXY) to 97.330 points. He mentioned that last Friday’s weak US labour market report has strengthened the conviction of an interest rate cut in the upcoming US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next week. Dr Rashid further explained the impression that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) might be behind the curve in delivering timely monetary easing as previous labour market data, such as the US nonfarm payrolls (NFP), saw sizeable downward revisions. This situation has led to the ringgit breaching the psychological level of RM4.20.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes highlighted that expectations of Fed interest rate cuts have narrowed yield gaps, allowing the local note more room to rise. He said the potential rate cuts indicate a broader reassessment of the policy support the Fed may need to provide this year. Innes emphasized that the real inflection point might come later today with the annual revision to the NFP. Fed governor Christopher Waller has already alerted that last year’s job tally may have been overstated by up to 720,000 positions, a discrepancy that could change the entire narrative around US labour resilience. Innes added that such a revision is heavily impacting the US dollar, which continues to drift lower as investors prepare for a possible larger policy shift.

At the close, the ringgit was lower against a basket of major currencies. It eased against the euro to 4.9451/9516 from 4.9430/9477, slipped versus the yen to 2.8711/8751 from 2.8536/8565, and was down vis-a-vis the pound to 5.7095/7170 from 5.6956/7011 yesterday. However, the local note was mostly higher against ASEAN currencies. It inched up versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2824/2870 from 3.2831/2865, fell against the baht to 13.2688/2925 from 13.2299/2491, gained vis-a-vis the rupiah to 254.9/255.4 from 258.5/258.8, and increased against the peso to 7.37/7.39 from 7.43/7.44 previously.