Ringgit Opens Slightly Lower Against US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 (Bernama) -- The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar Wednesday on the strengthening of the latter and tracking a weaker oil market, a dealer said. At 9.06 am, the local unit was traded at 4.4380/4450 against the US dollar from Tuesday's close of 4.4340/4380. A dealer said the ringgit's fall was in line with the other Asian currencies amid concerns over political risks from the US and Europe. The benchmark Brent crude was traded 0.91 per cent lower at US$54.55 (US$1 = RM4.43) per barrel. Meanwhile, FXTM Chief Market Strategist, Hussein Sayed, said a widely-ignored economic data during ex-President Barack Obama’s era would be one of the interesting releases going forward. The local note was also traded lower against a basket of major currencies. It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.1265/1336 from 3.1239/1276 Tuesday and eased versus the British pound to 5.5417/5549 from 5.4822/4889 on Tuesday. The ringgit fell versus the euro to 4.7371/7464 from 4.7258/7318 on Tuesday and declined to 3.9463/9543 from 3.9448/9491 against the yen Tuesday. -- BERNAMA