Malaysian Ringgit Rises Against Major Currencies On Strong Economic Data
Kuala Lumpur: The ringgit moved upward against a basket of major currencies on Monday, backed by recent Malaysian economic data, though it slipped versus the U.S. dollar at closing time.
By 6 p.m., the ringgit fell to RM4.0805/84.45 against the greenback from yesterday’s closing rate of RM4.0795/83.35.
Early Wednesday, the Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that national inflation eased to 1.8 percent in September 2026, down from 1.9 percent in the prior month, while total trade surged 53.7 percent to RM396.5 billion from RM258.1 billion a year earlier.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit stayed resilient despite external headwinds, especially after MSCI signaled it was reclassifying Indonesia’s stock market from “emerging market” to “stand‑alone market.”
“The potential two‑step downgrade from Emerging Market to Stand‑Alone status contributed to the rupiah’s depreciation to more than 18,000 rupees per U.S. dollar, while the Jakarta Composite Index slipped 3.57 percent to 5,000.175 points,” he told Bernama.
“So far, impacts on regional currencies have been relatively contained and localized,” he added.
As a result, the U.S.–ringgit spread lingered within a tight band of RM4.0788 – RM4.0828 at the close.
Overnight trading showed stronger moves against key pairs. The ringgit climbed to RM2.5790/58.17 versus the Japanese yen from RM2.5831/59.85, improved to RM4.5726/57.71 alongside the euro, and gained ground versus the British pound to RM5.4369/44.22.
The note also posted gains over ASEAN counterparts: it lifted against the Indonesian rupiah to 226.0/226.4 from 226.3/226.6 last Friday, edged ahead of the Philippine peso to 6.47/6.48 and improved versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1886/19.20 after previously sitting at 3.1889/19.22, and posted strength over the Thai baht to 12.1451/16.13 following a prior level of 12.2101/22.68.