Malaysian Ringgit Opens Lower Against US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian ringgit opened lower against the US dollar on Thursday as investors' interest shifted towards the greenback on rising US Treasury yields. As at 9.07 am, the local unit stood at 4.4560/4600 against the greenback from 4.4520/4570 at 6pm Wednesday. A dealer said higher US Treasury yields would likely prompt selling in Malaysian government bonds given the fact that yield spreads between Malaysian 10-year government bonds and US 10-year Treasuries have narrowed to 1.62 percentage points, the lowest in nearly three months. However, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against other major currencies. The local note rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1416/1448 from 3.1490/1529 on Wednesday and versus the yen, it increased to 3.8900/8952 from 3.9039/9093. The ringgit appreciated against the euro to 4.6957/7017 from 4.6991/7048 but was lower against the British pound at 5.4198/4274 from 5.4145/4219 yesterday. -- BERNAMA