Malaysian Ringgit Opens Higher Against US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian ringgit continued its upward momentum from Tuesday's close to open higher against the US dollar on Wednesday as more investors shifted interest towards emerging currencies, dealers said. At 9.01 am, the local unit was traded at 4.4410/4480 against the greenback from Tuesday's 4.4600/4650. A dealer said the greenback was hit by British Prime Minister Theresa May's speech on Brexit, which triggered the British pound's largest one-day percentage gain in nine years. The ringgit, meanwhile, traded higher against a basket of major currencies. It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1319/1370 from 3.1428/1470 on Tuesday, but fell against the British pound to 5.5002/5102 from 5.4265/4344. The ringgit advanced versus the euro to 4.7568/7647 from 4.7624/7682 and strengthened against the Japanese yen at 3.9423/9489 from 3.9452/9506. --BERNAMA