Kuala lumpur: The ringgit ended higher against the US dollar on Tuesday, as markets reassessed the US-Venezuela episode as politically disruptive but economically contained, an analyst said. At 6 pm, the local currency climbed to 4.0445/0495 versus the greenback from Monday's close of 4.0695/0745.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, IPPFA Sdn Bhd's director of investment strategy and country economist, Mohd Sedek Jantan, stated that investors perceived no significant spillover into global growth, energy supply, or financial conditions due to the situation. As the initial safe-haven bid for the dollar faded, US yields and the greenback lost their defensive premium, enabling high-carry and high-beta currencies like the ringgit to rebound.

He further explained that the divergence between a weaker US Dollar Index (DXY) and resilient Asian currencies indicates a short-lived risk-off shock rather than the onset of a sustained global deleveraging cycle. At the close, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

The ringgit appreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.5865/5899 from 2.5932/5965 at Monday's close, and strengthened against the euro to 4.7373/7432 from 4.7540/7598, but weakened versus the British pound to 5.4742/4810 from 5.4706/4774.

The local currency traded mixed against ASEAN peers. It rose against the Philippine peso at 6.83/6.84 from 6.88/6.90 on Monday's close and increased against the Thai baht to 12.9383/9592 from 12.9891/13.0109 previously. However, the ringgit was slightly lower against the Indonesian rupiah at 243.1/241.7 from 243.0/243.5 on Monday, and marginally lower against the Singapore dollar at 3.1608/1649 from 3.1603/1644.