KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar for the sixth consecutive day today as traders remained cautious ahead of Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) decision on the overnight policy rate (OPR), a dealer said.
At 9 am, the local currency fell to 4.7410/7460 against the greenback from Wednesday's close of 4.7360/7400.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the investors are now awaiting the decision on Malaysian interest rate to be announced later today. The rate is expected to rise from 2.5 per cent to 2.75 per cent.
Besides that, the ringgit's movement was also influenced by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) announcement of another interest rate increase and signalled for more smaller increases ahead.
The Fed has raised the benchmark borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage points, from 3.25 per cent to 4.0 per cent on Wednesday.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted at the stance the US central bank would adopt in the future.
"Powell said he still does not see elements that would warrant a pause in the interest rate increase but that more concrete decisions will be taken at the next meeting in December," Diniz said.
Back home, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local note appreciated against the euro to 4.6566/6615 from 4.6910/6950 at Wednesday's close and improved vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3456/3496 from 3.3551/3584 yesterday.
It went up versus the British pound to 5.4019/4076 from 5.4445/4491 and increased against the Japanese yen to 3.2169/2205 from 3.2185/2214 previously.