Ringgit Rises To 18-Month High Against US Dollar

The ringgit is now one of the best-performing currencies in the Asian region after breaking through the key support level of 4.40 earlier this week.

As of 9 am on August 21, 2024, the ringgit has risen to 4.375 against the US dollar. This is mainly driven by speculation of potential rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.

However, the ringgit’s performance against other major currencies shows mixed results. It has weakened against the British pound, euro and also the yen. As of Tuesday, the ringgit closed at 5.70 to the British pound, 4.86 to the euro and 3.01 to the yen respectively.

Within Southeast Asia, the ringgit also dropped against the Thai baht and Singaporean dollar at 12.8 and 3.35 respectively.

Mirroring the ringgit’s strength against the US dollar, Bursa Malaysia’s index has climbed up to its highest level since 2020. The FBM KLCI (FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ) climbed up 1.10% to 1,641,73 at the start of this week on August 20, 2024.