Malaysian Ringgit Easier Against US Dollar At Opening

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian ringgit opened easier against the US dollar today on slightly lower demand, a dealer said. At 9.02 am, the ringgit was quoted at 4.4740/4780 versus the greenback compared with 4.4730/4760 on Tuesday. A dealer said the dollar rebounded in trading against its peers just before the announcement of a news conference by US President-elect Donald Trump, which could set the short term market direction. "Besides the ringgit, other economies that saw their currencies weakening against the greenback included the euro and yen," he added. On a separate note, the Ministry of Finance yesterday said it expects the recovering commodity prices and China's improving economy, as well as measures taken by Bank Negara Malaysia, to help lift the ringgit to RM4.10 against the US dollar by the third quarter of this year. This news has somewhat prompted confidence among traders and capped the local note from declining further, the dealer said. Against the other major currencies, the ringgit traded mostly higher. It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1100/1138 from 3.1151/1176 on Tuesday and increased against the yen to 3.8542/8580 from 3.8554/8593. The local unit appreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7210/7261 from 4.7396/7432, but compared to the British pound, weakened to 5.4462/4529 from 5.4325/4370. -- BERNAMA