KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar today as sentiment for the greenback strengthened in tandem with positive development for the equity market in the United States, an analyst said.

At 9.01am, the local note stood at 4.3925/3960 versus the greenback from Monday’s close of 4.3870/3915.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the benchmark equity indices in the US rebounded while the US Treasury Yields, be it the short or long-dated securities were higher.

"This indicates there was a shift from the risk-free asset class to the risky securities, namely the equities,” he told Bernama.

Besides, the sentiment in the foreign exchange market remains guarded as the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will continue to remain hawkish in its monetary stand.

"We believe the sentiment in the foreign exchange market remain guarded by the Fed, a dynamic that will be elaborated further in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes that will be published on Thursday,” he said. As such, Mohd Afzanizam expects the ringgit to remain range-bound between RM4.38 and RM4.39 today.

The ringgit was, however, traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1925/1955 from Monday’s close of 3.1933/1968, increased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.4367/4397 from 3.4408/4446, and rose versus the British pound to 5.5157/5201 from 5.5167/5223.

However, the ringgit depreciated versus the euro to 4.6864/6901 from 4.6840/6888 yesterday. — Bernama