KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar, in early trade, dampened by persistent interest for the greenback on expectation the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates.
At 9 am, the local unit was traded at 4.4570/4620 against the US dollar from 4.4560/4600 on Monday.
The US central bank is expected to raise interest rates soon following the strong employment and inflation data released by the super economy.
Against other major currencies, the ringgit was traded mostly higher.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1370/1409 from Monday’s 3.1411/1444, strengthened versus the yen to 3.9307/9361 from 3.9385/9431 and increased against the euro to 4.7182/7253 from 4.7332/7379.
The ringgit, however, depreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.5525/5601 from 5.5522/5589 yesterday.--BERNAMA