Ringgit Opens Marginally Lower Against US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 (Bernama) -- The ringgit opened marginally lower against the US dollar Friday on subdued demand ahead of the United States (US) second quarter gross domestic product results which will be released later Friday. At 9 am, the local unit stood at 4.2780/2820 against the greenback compared with Thursday's close of 4.2760/2790. "However, the prospects of a flatter US rate increase trajectory and oil prices surging to an eight-week highs are underpinning demand for the ringgit, as demand for the underweighted regional high yield carries on. “Markets could be relatively quiet today (Friday) ahead of tonight's (Friday night) key US GDP data, so we are not expecting too much movement in the local basket today (Friday),” OANDA Senior Trader Stephen Innes told Bernama. The benchmark Brent crude was trading around US$51.51 per barrel. Innes also said strengthening commodity prices and strong equity markets, supported by robust corporate earnings, were also providing a solid footing for emerging markets. Against other currencies, the local note was traded mixed. It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.1481/1534 from 3.1471/1514 Thursday and depreciated versus the yen to 3.8551/8597 from 3.8377/8418 on Thursday. However, the ringgit improved against the euro to 4.9954/5.0018 from 5.0106/0154 Thursday and rose to 5.5931/5991 from 5.6187/6239 on Thursday when compared with the British pound. -- BERNAMA