KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar on Friday, buoyed by the rise in oil prices.

At 9am, the local currency was traded at 4.1390/1420 against the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.1445/1475.

At the time of writing, oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.37 per cent to US$65.35 per barrel.

Meanwhile, ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the market is waiting for the United States’ Existing Home Sales report due later today, which is a strong indicator of the overall economic wellbeing.

"A higher-than-expected reading is possibly positive for the dollar and could be the ignition for an extended rally against the ringgit in the next few weeks,” he said.

In the meantime, the local note was traded mostly lower against other major currencies.

The ringgit eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.1099/1124 from yesterday’s close of 3.1080/1107, and slightly declined vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.8699/8746 from 5.8520/8579 chalked up previously.

The local currency fell against the euro to 5.0637/0677 from 5.0505/0550 yesterday, but inched up against the yen to 3.8028/8063 from 3.8030/8068 at Thursday’s close. — Bernama