The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar, although the US dollar is expected to weaken today following the deterioration of US economic data and increased global risk appetite.
At 9:06 am, the ringgit was trading at 3.8930, down 0.08% against the US dollar since the Asian trading session opened on Wednesday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid informed that the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose by 0.17% to 97.874 points as the Federal Reserve (Fed) issued an aggressive statement and high resilience in parts of the US economy.
He also noted that the US dollar-ringgit pair was trading at RM3.90 before closing at RM3.8948, down 0.11% from the previous session.
According to Mohd Afzanizam, the ringgit is expected to trade flat today at the levels of RM3.89 and RM3.90.
At the open, the ringgit traded higher against a basket of currencies.
It rose against the Japanese yen to 2.4944/5014 from 2.4968/5011 yesterday, surged against the euro to 4.5799/5923 from 4.5873/5950 and gained against the British pound to 5.2489/2631.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded stronger against ASEAN currencies.
It strengthened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0699/0786 from 3.0726/0780 and rose against the Philippine peso to 6.73/6.75 from 6.74/6.75 previously.
It also rose against the Thai baht to 12.5060/5495 from 12.5463/5726 and rose slightly against the Indonesian rupiah to 231.1/231.8 from 231.2/231.7 previously.
