The ringgit was traded slightly lower, ahead of the Christmas holiday this weekend due to lack of traders' participation in the market, as well as influenced by external factors.

At 9am, the local unit inched down and traded at 4.4750/4800 against the greenback from yesterday's close of 4.4740/4770.

On global factors, FXTM Chief Market Strategist Hussein Sayed said the US economic data might provide some sort of volatility if the data were to deviate a lot from forecasts.

Mixed US economic data released yesterday had cushioned the fall of global currencies.

Consumer spending growth in the US slowed and was less than forecast in November as wages fell.

However, orders for US business equipment climbed more than forecast.

Hussein also noted that there is no significant moves in equities, fixed income, or even currency markets today as trading volumes shrank, suggesting that more consolidation is expected throughout the remaining days of 2016.

"With fewer traders on their desks and most investors planning to spend their New Year's Eve, markets have clearly entered the holiday mood," he said in a statement.

Against other major currencies, the local unit also traded mostly higher.

It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0862/0907 from yesterday's 3.0879/0908, weakened against the yen to 3.8079/8147 from 3.8028/8079 and improved against the British pound to 5.4935/5023 from 5.5178/5219 yesterday.

However, the local note inched down vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6719/6789 from 4.6718/6767 yesterday.

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 RM37.29 billion in the conventional system and RM10.47 billion in Islamic funds.

BNM will call for a range maturity auction (RMA) money market tender valued at RM5 billion for six to 31 days, a repo tender of RM1 billion for 62 days and an Islamic range maturity auction (iRMA) of RM3.5 billion for six to 31 days.

At 4pm, BNM will conduct an up to RM31.3 billion in conventional overnight tender and a RM7 billion overnight Qard.

Meanwhile, the three-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate (KLIBOR) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was untraded as at 9.48am.

January 2017, February 2017 and March 2017 were each quoted at 96.58, new spot month June 2017 stood at 96.53, while open interest remained at nil.

- Bernama