KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar this morning after the greenback weakened due to the rising tension between the United States (US) and China.
At 9.04 am, the local currency stood at 4.4535/4555 versus the greenback compared to Wednesday's close of 4.4550/4565.
ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan had heightened the US-Sino tension which triggered a fall in the US dollar.
"The dollar was higher at the beginning of the session, but the rising tension between the two nations triggered the greenback’s decline,” he told Bernama.
He also noted that investors remain apprehensive ahead of the US nonfarm payrolls (NFP) data which will be released tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.
The local currency gained against the Japanese yen to 3.3325/3342 from Wednesday's close of 3.3459/3472, advanced versus the British pound to 5.4137/4161 from 5.4244/4262 and improved against the euro to 4.5261/5281 from 4.5396/5412 previously.
However, the ringgit depreciated vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.2274/2293 from 3.2262/2277 on Wednesday. - Bernama
