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Ringgit easier against greenback at opening

The ringgit opened easier against the US dollar today on slightly lower demand, a dealer said.

At 9.02am, the ringgit was quoted at 4.4740/4780 versus the greenback compared with 4.4730/4760 yesterday.

A dealer said the dollar rebounded in trading against its peers just before the announcement of a news conference by US president-elect Donald Trump, which could set the short term market direction.

"Besides the ringgit, other economies that saw their currencies weakening against the greenback included the euro and yen," he added.

On a separate note, the Finance Ministry yesterday said it expects the recovering commodity prices and China's improving economy, as well as measures taken by Bank Negara Malaysia, to help lift the ringgit to RM4.10 against the US dollar by the third quarter of this year.

This news has somewhat prompted confidence among traders and capped the local note from declining further, the dealer said.

Against the other major currencies, the ringgit traded mostly higher.

It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1100/1138 from 3.1151/1176 yesterday and increased against the yen to 3.8542/8580 from 3.8554/8593.

The local unit appreciated vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7210/7261 from 4.7396/7432, but compared to the British pound, weakened to 5.4462/4529 from 5.4325/4370.

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

The central bank estimated today's liquidity at RM33.46 billion in the conventional system and RM11.31 billion in Islamic funds.

Bank Negara will conduct three conventional money market tenders of RM1 billion for seven days, RM500 million each for 14 days and 33 days respectively, as well as a commodity Murabahah programme tender worth RM300 million for 14 days and RM1.3 billion 33 days.

It will also conduct a Qard tender worth RM1.5 billion for 14 days, alongside two RM1 billion repo tenders for 33 days and 61 days.

At 4pm, Bank Negara will conduct an up to RM29.5 billion conventional overnight tender and RM8.2 billion overnight Qard.

- Bernama

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