Ringgit opens marginally higher against US dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened marginally higher against the US dollar as the lower United States (US) consumer confidence data took a toll on the greenback.

At 9 am, the local currency inched up to 4.7300/7340 against the greenback from Monday's close of 4.7350/7375.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the consumer confidence data, which measures how confident families feel about the economic scenario in the short and medium term, has fallen to 102.5 in October from 107.8 in September.

"The lower-than-expected reading (102.5 real versus the 106.5 forecasts) tends to be negative for the US dollar in the medium term," he told Bernama.

He said the US household spending represents approximately two-thirds of the gross domestic product (GDP), and when consumers feel less confident about the future, this would be reflected in the total GDP number quite heavily.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local note slipped against the British pound to 5.4111/4157 from 5.3600/3628 at Monday's close and eased versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3345/3378 from 3.3233/3253.

It depreciated against the Japanese yen at 3.1927/1958 from 3.1804/1823 and slid vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7049/7089 from 4.6711/6735 on Monday.

-- BERNAMA