Ringgit ends lower amid Middle East tensions

2026-03-02 - 11:34

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed lower against the US dollar today, as prevailing risk-off sentiment weighed on the local currency amid heightened uncertainty over the conflict in the Middle East. Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid noted that despite the geopolitical shocks, the ringgit has remained below RM4 against the US dollar, which could be deemed as resilient given the scale of the conflict. “Nonetheless, the market remains highly uncertain. Hence, expect the ringgit to remain soft against the US dollar in the near-term,” he told Bernama. The US and Israel launched a series of strikes on targets in Iran on Saturday, including Tehran, with reports of civilian casualties. Iran retaliated with missile attacks on Israeli territory and US military facilities in the Middle East. Earlier, finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan stated that the value of the ringgit had increased by 4.31% to RM3.89 against the US dollar as of yesterday. He noted that the strengthening of the ringgit reflected strong domestic fundamentals, with the 2025 gross domestic product growth at 5.2% exceeding the original projection. At 6m, the ringgit eased to 3.9225/3.9295 versus the greenback from last Friday’s close of 3.8910/3.8960. At the close, the ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies. It weakened versus the euro to 4.6031/4.6113 from 4.5898/4.5957 at Friday’s close and fell against the Japanese yen to 2.4984/2.5032 from 2.4930/2.4963. However, it edged up vis-à-vis the British pound to 5.2460/5.2553 from 5.2470/5.2538 previously. The local note traded mixed against its Asean peers. It edged down versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0854/3.0912 from 3.0742/3.0784 and slipped against the Indonesian rupiah to 232.5/233.0 from 231.7/232.2. However, it strengthened vis-à-vis the Thai baht to 12.4682/12.4980 from 12.5153/12.5370 and was slightly up versus the Philippine peso at 6.74/6.76 from 6.75/6.76 on Friday.