Malaysian Ringgit Opens Slightly Higher Against US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian ringgit opened slightly higher against the greenback on Tuesday, even as the United States is expected to announce another tariff hike on Chinese goods by early December. At 9 am, the local unit stood at 4.1770/1820 versus the US dollar from 4.1780/1820 at Monday's close. The prospect of a tariff hike for the third time, caused the Chinese yuan to sink to a 10-year low against the US dollar. A dealer said the prolonged trade war between the US and China is expected to create greater tension, if talks between President’s Donald Trump and Xi Jinping next month, fail to ease the trade pressure. "Investors have started to find other places to invest outside of China to evade the tariff hike. "Malaysia could benefit from this trade tension as the country has strong economic fundamentals which could provide long-term stability for investors," he told Bernama. Against other major currencies, the ringgit traded mostly higher. The local unit was up against the Singapore dollar to 3.0189/0230 from 3.0218/0258 on Monday and vis-a-vis the Japanese yen, gained to 3.7106/7160 from 3.7247/7286. The ringgit rose against the British pound to 5.3474/3555 from 5.3562/3630 and declined against the euro at 4.7509/7570 from 4.7537/7600. -- BERNAMA