Ringgit opens lower against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower versus the US dollar this morning on lack of interest for the local currency, a dealer said.
At 9.02am, the local unit was quoted at 3.9810/9860 against last Friday's close of 3.9790/9830.
OANDA Head of Trading in Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes said despite slightly better risk sentiment on the back of the North Korean headlines, the elephant in the room was the discussion around government debt.
"The ringgit would most likely put in a repeat performance of last week while gravitating to the higher end of the current 3.95-4.00 support and resistance zone.
"Local political thunder clouds remained a risk, but external factors is expected to drive momentum where emerging market currencies, in general, would continue to fall under pressure as the US dollar remained well positioned versus the euro heading into the weekend," he said.
On another note, he said oil prices looked very heavy both from a fundamental and technical perspective, suggesting that it might be coming to an end in the bull market run.
And this could further weight on ringgit sentiment, he added.
Meanwhile, the local unit was higher against a basket of currencies except the Japanese yen.
The local unit appreciated against the British pound to 5.2983/3070 from 5.3128/3197 and was higher against the euro at 4.6574/6644 from 4.6606/6665 on Friday.
It improved against the Singapore dollar to 2.9698/9753 versus 2.9721/9753 but eased versus the yen to 3.6373/6328 from 3.6348/6391 on Friday. — Bernama