The ringgit opened slightly weaker against the US dollar as investors now opt for a cautious approach ahead of a busy week with the release of US (US) labour market data.
At 10:04 am, the ringgit opened at 4.0480, down 0.10% against the US dollar since opening at the beginning of trading on Wednesday in the Asian session.
Director of Investment Strategy and National Economist of IPPFA Sdn Bhd, Mohd Sedek Jantan explained that investors' actions who chose to maintain a defensive approach had put pressure on emerging market currencies such as the ringgit at the beginning of trading.
Meanwhile, the US economic data that will be the main focus this week is the US Job Openings and Total Labor Force Survey (JOLTS) and the ADP employment data.
At the opening, the ringgit was traded stronger against major currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.5836/5902 from 2.5865/5899, rose against the euro to 4.7303/7420 from 4.7373/7432 and gained against the British pound to 5.4637/4772 from 5.4742/4810 previously.
The ringgit was also mixed against its ASEAN counterparts.
It strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.1604/1684 from 3.1608/1649 and gained against the Indonesian rupiah to 241.5/242.2 from 243.1/241.7.
However, it declined against the Thai baht to 12.9678/13.0094 from 12.9383/9592 and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 6.83/6.85 from 6.83/6.84 yesterday.
