KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar today on positive regional sentiment and on the back of surprising news that North Korea is open to denuclearisation, said a dealer.
At 9 am, the local note was quoted at 3.8990/9030 versus the greenback from Tuesday's 3.9020/9050.
OANDA Head of Trading Asia-Pacific, Stephen Innes said regional currencies received a boost on news that North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States on denuclearisation, if the safety of its regime is guaranteed.
The US dollar also continued to weaken on persistent concerns about a trade war following US President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminium.
“The prospect of trade tariffs is raising its ugly head again.But, when all is said and done, these tit-for-tat tariffs are not significant enough a factor to weigh on the ringgit sentiment, let alone derail the buoyant global growth narrative,” said Innes.
On the local front, he said the market is not expecting much from Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting today, as the central bank is anticipated to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged after increasing it for the first time in over three years in January.
At 3 pm today, BNM would be releasing the outcome of its second Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
At its first MPC meeting on Jan 25, BNM increased the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent.
The local note, however, traded lower against a basket of major currencies.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 2.9592/9633 from 2.9576/9608 on Tuesday and weakened against the yen to 3.6901/6950 from 3.6857/6888 yesterday.
It declined against the British pound to 5.4173/4240 from 5.4039/4084 and eased against the euro to 4.8414/8479 from 4.8158/8211. - Bernama
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