Malaysian Ringgit Marginally Lower Against US Dollar At Opening

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 (Bernama) – The Malaysian ringgit opened marginally lower against the US dollar on Wednesday morning on declining global oil prices, which curbed investors’ appetite for the local note. At 9 am, the local unit stood at 4.0210/0240 against the greenback from 4.0180/0210 at the close Tuesday. A dealer said despite the dollar weakening to its lowest level in more than three months at close yesterday, the ringgit was subdued on softer demand, coinciding with the sudden slump in global oil prices. The benchmark Brent crude traded at US$66.54 a barrel, down 0.05 per cent. However, RHB Retail Research said in a note the global crude oil market sentiment was still encouraging and the upside movement could still extend further. Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies. It depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0247/0276 from 3.0245/0281 on Tuesday and declined against the yen to 3.5796/5833 from 3.5789/5825 previously. The ringgit eased against the euro to 4.8497/8550 from 4.8493/8596 yesterday and was lower against the British pound at 5.4670/4722 from 5.4432/4489 previously. -- BERNAMA