KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — The ringgit strengthened against major currencies at the end of trading today as its correction continued.

At 6pm, the ringgit rose to 4.7780/7830 against the US dollar from Tuesday’s close of 4.7825/7865.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit is still in correction mode after the recent sharp downtrend, but opined that the trend could be short-lived.

"The US dollar will continue to be in high demand in times of global uncertainties. We believe the focus is on how the Palestine-Israel conflict would evolve, especially on the possible ground invasion.

"The way we see it, things are still fluid and can swiftly change course,” he told Bernama.

As such, Mohd Afzanizam said market participants will continue to pay close attention to the development in the Middle East.

At the same time, the development in China’s property debt crisis also sparked concerns, following reports that for the first time, Chinese developer, Country Garden has failed to pay interest on its US dollar bond within a grace period that ended last week.

Market players are also waiting for the United States’ (US) third-quarter gross domestic product preliminary estimates on Thursday to gauge the next US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision ahead of its meeting at the end of this month.

S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the US rose to 50 in October 2023, an improvement from September’s 49.8, showing economic resilience, consequently boosting the greenback.

At home, the ringgit increased against the euro to 5.0494/0547 from 5.0881/0924 at the close on Tuesday, gained versus the British pound to 5.7905/7965 from 5.8557/8606 yesterday, and edged up against the Japanese yen to 3.1866/1902 from 3.1960/1989 previously.

The local note was also traded higher against other Asian currencies.

It rose vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.4871/4910 from 3.5003/5035 at Tuesday’s close, gained against the Indonesian rupiah to 301.0/301.5 from 301.7/302.1 yesterday, appreciated versus the Philippines’ peso to 8.40/8.41 from 8.42/8.43 and improved against the Thai baht to 13.1960/2153 from 13.2186/2352 previously. — Bernama