THE ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today amid quiet trading as the United States  markets were closed for the Washington’s Birthday holiday yesterday, a dealer said. 

At 9am, the ringgit slipped to 4.4305/4350 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4280/4325

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the dollar had shown an upward trend against the ringgit in recent weeks, noting that the pair are currently approaching the resistance level of 4.4300.

“This could cause the USD/MYR to drop towards 4.3600,” he said in a note today. 

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes expects the Asian forex exchange –including the ringgit – to trade in tight ranges ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday.  

“There remains an air of caution due to the legacy effects of last week’s precipitous rise in yields, hence I think investors will remain very cautious with the US Federal Reserve sounding more hawkish,” he told Bernama.

The ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local unit rose against the Japanese yen to 3.2997/3035 from 3.2998/3036 at yesterday’s close but declined vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3152/3191 from 3.3136/3172 yesterday.

It weakened versus the euro to 4.7300/7348 from 4.7291/7339 and fell against the British pound to 5.3286/3340 from 5.3233/3288 yesterday. – Bernama, February 21, 2023.