THE ringgit continued its uptrend to end higher against the greenback today as US bond yields stabilised, dealers said.

At 6pm, the local note rose to 4.7115/7155 against the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.7255/7300.

A dealer said the US trade deficit contracted by 9.9% to US$53.8 billion (RM254 billion), the lowest since September 2020, according to the Commerce Department yesterday.

Data for July were revised to show the trade gap rising to US$64.7 billion instead of US$65 billion as previously reported.

The dealer said US job growth likely slowed moderately in September while the employment rate probably eased from a 0.5-1.0 month high, underscoring the economy’s underlying strength amid rising headwinds as the year winds down.

The ringgit was traded mostly lower versus a basket of major currencies.

It went up against the yen to 3.1612/1641 from yesterday’s close of 3.1719/1751, declined against the euro to 4.9720/9763 from 4.9651/9698 and depreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.7494/7543 from 5.7283/7337.

The local note was traded mostly higher against other Asean currencies.

It increased versus the Thai baht to 12.7200/7367 from yesterday’s close of 12.7927/8115 and rose against the Indonesian rupiah at 301.7/302.1 from 302.4/303.0.

It was higher against the Philippine peso at 8.32/8.33 compared with 8.33/8.35 yesterday and weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.4458/4493 from 3.4442/4478. – Bernama, October 6, 2023.