KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today on lack of demand for the local note, dealers said.
At 9 am, the unit traded at 4.2400/2430 against the greenback from 4.2340/2370 on Friday.
OANDA Head of Trading Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes said the ringgit weathered the latest US interest rate sell off better that market expected.
He said the ringgit remained undervalued given the surprising levels of economic expansion which created a conducive environment.
“Positioning of the ringgit remains light. In the absence of an active non-deliverable forward (NDF) market and when regional currencies weakens, the ringgit is less likely to do so aggressively given the lack of NDF speculation pressure.
“While there is a need to add some much-needed reserves, perhaps with oil prices looking to move higher, Bank Negara Malaysia may be able to add to the reserve coffers at much lower levels than currently offered,” said Innes.
The benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.37 per cent higher at US$62.30 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1062/1087 from 3.1093/1122 on Friday and appreciated versus the yen to 3.7069/7105 from 3.7088/7128, previously.
The ringgit improved against the euro to 4.9205/9257 from 4.9309/9357 on Friday but fell to 5.5400/5452 from 5.5326/5382 compared with the British pound, previously. -- BERNAMA