Ringgit opens slightly lower against greenback

The ringgit opened slightly lower against the greenback today, post the Christmas holiday, on a lack of impetus coupled with weak crude oil prices, said dealers.

At 9am, the local unit slid to trade at 4.4750/4800 against the US dollar from last Friday's close of 4.4725/4755.

A dealer said the benchmark Brent Crude oil price was on a minor downtrend at US$55.07 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate was on a lower note at US$53.05 per barrel.

"The forex market is expected to be active as traders would want to capitalise on and stretch trading before the year ends," he said.

The ringgit traded mixed against other major currencies.

It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0892/0935 from last Friday's 3.0934/0959, was marginally lower against the yen at 3.8118/8163 from 3.8112/8145 and declined against the British pound to 5.4935/5041 from 5.4904/4946.

However, the local note edged up vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6746/6807 from 4.6751/6800.

Short-term rates are expected to remain steady today on Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) continuous intervention to absorb excess liquidity from the financial system.

The central bank estimated today's liquidity at RM35.52 billion in the conventional system and RM13.25 billion in Islamic funds.

BNM will call for a range maturity auction (RMA) money market tender valued at RM6 billion for three to 31 days, an Islamic range maturity auction (iRMA) Qard tender of RM5.2 billion for three days to 31 days, and a reverse repo tender worth RM380 million for 14 days.

At 4pm, BNM will conduct an up to RM30 billion in conventional overnight tender and a RM8.1 billion overnight Qard.

- Bernama