Ringgit opens lower against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit was lower against the US dollar at Friday's opening on lack of demand, a dealer said.
At 9am, the local note was quoted at 3.9250/9290 from 3.9160/9200 at Thursday's close.
Oanda Head of Trading Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes said the ringgit was underperforming this week due to quarter end repatriation flows.
"Now the US dollar versus the ringgit is caught up in the broader greenback's strength and rising US bond yields.
"The risk sentiment waning regional equity market will struggle, and the threat of additional regional outflows as trade war rhetoric increases could dent all regional currency sentiment, dragging the ringgit lower by proximity," he told Bernama.
Another dealer said the US dollar became the star overnight in the market across most asset classes and getting swept up ahead of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting, scheduled for March 19, with the central bank expected to hike its interest rates.
"But with the positive announcement by the Prime Minister yesterday that the local note would be trading higher versus the US dollar, we hope it would spur more buying for the ringgit or at least capped the ringgit from weakening further (against the US dollar)," the dealer added.
Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak was reported as saying that the ringgit is expected to surge to 3.80 against the US dollar in the near term, supported by positive indicators, including the country's strong economic performance and exports worth more than RM80 billion in the first quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of emerging currencies. The ringgit rose against the Singapore dollar to 2.9834/9876 from 2.9893/9942 on Thursday
and strengthened versus the euro to 4.8285/8350 from 4.8398/8455.
Vis-a-vis the yen, the ringgit was slightly lower at 3.6966/7007 from 3.6957/7002 and decreased to 5.4663/4739 from 5.4585/4653 against the British pound. — Bernama