The ringgit opened lower against the United States (US) dollar today as the US dollar remained stable amid reports of higher inflation expectations ahead of the announcement of important US data.
At exactly 9 this morning, the ringgit declined to 4.7310/7350 from 4.7270/7320 when it closed on Monday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd's Chief Economist, Dr Afzanizam said the US Dollar Index (DXY) hovered around 105 points after the Federal Reserve (Fed) survey showed that consumer prices are expected to increase by 3.3% next year after remaining at 3.0% in the last four months.
For now, data on inflation will be closely monitored by market participants, especially on the Producer Price Index (CPI) report for the month of April which will be released tonight.
He also said that the main CPI is expected to increase to 2.2% from 2.1% last month. Meanwhile, the Core CPI is projected to moderate slightly to 2.3% from 2.4% previously.
Therefore, the ringgit is expected to trade cautiously today as investors will continue to monitor inflation data.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded lower against a group of major currencies except the Japanese yen, rising to 3.0267/0296 from 3.0325/0359 at Monday's close.
The local unit weakened against the British pound to 5.9407/9457 from 5.9215/9278 and eased against the euro to 5.1038/1081 from 5.0967/1020 previously.
Ringgit surged against Asean currencies.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.4951/4983 from 3.4919/4959 yesterday and contracted against the Thai baht to 12.8521/8672 from 12.8388/8583.
The local unit was also lower against the Indonesian rupiah to 294.1/294.5 from 293.9/294.4 and slipped against the Philippine peso to 8.18/8.19 from 8.17/8.18 previously.
