KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — The ringgit ended marginally higher against the US dollar as sentiment was buoyed by Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI), which increased 12.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in June 2022.

At 8 pm, the local currency rose marginally to 4.4548/4589 versus the greenback from Monday’s close of 4.4570/4600.

A dealer said the positive IPI data gave a boost to the buying support for the ringgit and renewed positive sentiments in the market as research houses anticipated better gross domestic product growth in the second half of this year.

Meanwhile, Online trading platform OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said the market was also lacking in direction, mirroring the equity markets in Asia, which appeared to be carrying over into the European session.

"We may have reached a point in which investors need to decide whether they will truly buy into the recovery/no recession narrative or not and it's time to decide whether this is just a substantial bear market rally or a genuine view that the economic outlook is far less downbeat than what many feared,” he said.

Meanwhile, the ringgit closed mixed against a basket of major currencies.

The local currency improved vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.2976/3022 from 3.3010/3035 on Monday but declined against the euro to 4.5610/5677 from 4.5408/5438 at yesterday’s closing.

It also fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.2352/2383 from 3.2309/2333 and dropped versus the British pound to 5.3969/4005 from 5.3872/3908 previously. — Bernama