KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened slightly lower versus the US dollar today (Friday) on lack of demand for the currency ahead of the weekend, a dealer said.
At 9am, the local unit was traded at 4.4550/4600 against the US dollar from 4.4510/4560 on Thursday.
A dealer said the ringgit was traded lower versus the greenback in line with most Asian currencies.
However, he said the dollar was also stuck near a one-week low following weaker economic data released.
Yesterday, Bank Negara Malaysia, in announcing the country’s economic growth for 2016, said the ringgit had began to stabilise towards the end of the fourth quarter 2016 amid higher stability in global financial markets.
However, as for today, the ringgit was traded lower against emerging currencies.
It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.1426/1475 from 3.1374/1420 and versus the yen; it decreased to 3.9279/9330 from 3.9168/9222.
Vis-a-vis the British pound, the ringgit weakened to 5.5679/5759 from 5.5669/5745 and compared with the euro, it depreciated to 4.7526/7584 from 4.7345/7412 on Thursday.
