KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar this morning, on better demand for the greenback after the Federal Reserve indicated that an interest rate hike was still on the cards this year.
At 9.02 am, the ringgit was down at 3.9350/9470 against the greenback from 3.9100/9200 recorded at Thursday’s close.
A dealer said the less cautious tone from the Fed renewed optimism towards the greenback.
"However, we expect to see stronger buying demand for the ringgit later today, as traders track the higher oil prices.
"Earlier this morning, US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading at US$37.64 per barrel, up 38 cents from their last close while International benchmark Brent futures rose 24 cents to US$39.67 a barrel," he added.
The ringgit also traded lower against a basket of other currencies.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 2.9090/9183 from 2.8980/9063 yesterday and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.6171/6291 from 3.6067/6172.
The local note depreciated against the euro to 4.4741/4893 from 4.4519/4641 and weakened against the British pound to 5.5338/5526 from 5.5080/5229. -- BERNAMA
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