KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — The ringgit opened at a seven-month high against the US dollar in early trade today as the weakening greenback spurred demand for emerging currencies and riskier assets, dealers said.

At 9 am, the local currency was quoted at 4.1220/1280 versus the US dollar compared with 4.1370/1400 at Thursday’s close.

A dealer said the US dollar lost ground against major currencies as investors reacted to a slew of economic data on the growth of world’s largest economy.

Meanwhile, AxiCorp chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said with the US Federal Reserve’s risks out of the way, cheaper ringgit relative to the regional basket, and oil prices stabilising higher again, the local currency should continue to get stronger.

Speaking to Bernama, he said China’s recovery, remaining Covid-free, would also help the ringgit to strengthen as Malaysia exports to China would most certainly continue to improve with the mainland retail consumption demand catching up to China’s industrial engines firing on all cylinders.

"Sure, profit-taking was the theme in Asian trade with US dollar/reminbi leading the way higher after the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee), but that was quickly faded as currency traders found it hard to imagine a scenario where Wall Street does implicitly decide that the FOMC is not dovish enough.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against other major currencies.

It appreciated versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0398/0454 from 3.0433/0459 on Wednesday, increased against the Japanese yen to 3.9355/9416 from 3.9483/9523, and weakened against the British pound to 5.3528/3614 from 5.3669/6729.

The domestic unit, however, fell vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8875/8958 from 4.8812/8852 previously. — Bernama