The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar at the opening today as the US Dollar Index (DXY) declined further as the US labour market showed a weaker outlook.
At 10.15am, the ringgit was at 4.4260, up 0.32% against the US dollar from its close of 4.4400 at the end of Tuesday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the DXY had declined further to 107.993 points on the weaker US labour market.
The Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed the number of job openings in December fell to 7.6 million, lower than the consensus estimate of 8.01 million.
He added that it was the first decline after reporting two consecutive months of increases with the ratio of jobs available to unemployed individuals falling to 1.11 from 1.15 previously.
Apart from that, the ringgit could continue to perform favourably today between RM4.42 and RM4.44 with support and resistance levels at RM4.43 and RM4.45 respectively.
However, the ringgit was traded lower against major currencies.
The local currency weakened against the Japanese yen to 2.8729/8857 from 2.8581/8645 on Tuesday, depreciated against the euro to 4.5941/6144 from 4.5905/6003 and depreciated against the British pound to 5.5259/55286 from previously.
The ringgit was also traded mixed against Asean currencies.
It appreciated against the Philippine peso to 7.59/7.63 from 7.61/7.63 on Tuesday and rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 270.8/272.1 from 271.5/272.2 previously.
However, the ringgit was little changed against the Singapore dollar at 3.2741/2887 compared to 3.2741/2813 and fell against the Thai baht at 13.1429/2121 from 13.1241/1580 on Tuesday.
