The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar on Wednesday despite the US dollar strengthening following the rise in the US Dollar Index (DXY) since the beginning of the week.
At exactly 9am, the ringgit rose slightly to 4.7170 against the USD from Tuesday's close of 4.1775.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Afzanizam Rashid said the DXY rose 0.10% to 105,259 points and this showed better demand for the US dollar.
Local notes will continue to remain in a tight range as markets await the results from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting at 2am on Thursday.
Additionally, the 10-year US Treasury note attracted strong bids from investors with the yield falling to 4.438% from the previous auction of 4.483% with a bid ratio of 2.67 times which is the highest since February 2022.
For now, the ringgit is trading mostly higher against a group of major currencies except the Japanese yen. It fell to 3.0006/3.0046 from 3.0000/3.0021 at Tuesday's close.
The local unit strengthened against the euro to 5.0642/5.0706 from 5.0708/5.0741 yesterday and rose against the British pound to 6.0062/6.0138 from 6.0073/6.0111 previously.
Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mixed compared to Asean peers.
The local currency rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.4853/3.4900 from 3.4862/3.4887 at Tuesday's close and rose against the Thai baht to 12.8315/12.8521 from 12.8364/12.8491 yesterday.
However, it traded almost unchanged against the Indonesian rupiah to 289.5/290.0 from 289.5/289.9 and the Philippine peso to 8.03/8.05 from 8.03/8.04 previously.
