The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar today on mild buying interest.

At 9.13am, the ringgit was quoted at 4.4730/4770 versus the greenback compared with 4.4750/4790 on Monday.

A dealer said the ringgit was slightly higher as the greenback inched down 0.1 percent against a basket of six major currencies.

"The dollar fell after British Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement last weekend that she was not interested in keeping "bits of membership" of the European Union.

"The pound sterling gained 0.2 percent after the announcement, and as did some other currencies, including the ringgit," the dealer said.

However, he added that uptrend for the ringgit might be temporary as US president-elect Donald Trump, who is scheduled to hold a news conference when he takes over on Jan 20, will likely announce new policies that might affect the market.

Against the other major currencies, the ringgit traded lower.

It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.1138/1177 from 3.1044/1078 on Monday and declined against the yen to 3.8547/8592 from 3.8222/8242.

The local unit depreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.4351/4405 from 5.4349/4415 but weakened versus the euro to 4.7365/7411 from 4.7095/7146.

- Bernama