KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 ― The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar as demand for the greenback paused overnight following a mixed US stock market, analysts said.

It was reported that some US stocks trimmed their gains but closed mostly higher.

At 9am, the local currency edged up to 4.4630/4660 versus the greenback from Monday’s close of 4.4660/4680.

However, gains in ringgit were capped by the higher US data where building permits data in the US came higher than expected.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said this showed that the real estate market in the US is more heated than expected, which could generate inflation in the short and medium term.

"Inflation could in turn trigger further increase in interest rates. The recent bullish move marks the beginning of a possible breakout of the 2020 high resistance region.

"Meanwhile, a downside break of 4.44 could signal an entry of bearish strength and bring the US dollar-ringgit towards the 4.3650 region,” Diniz told Bernama.

Against a basket of major currencies, the ringgit was however traded mostly lower.

It marginally eased against the Singapore dollar at 3.2378/2405 from 3.2346/2365 at yesterday’s close and slightly rose vis-a-vis the Japanese yen at 3.3276/3301 from 3.3284/3301 previously.

The local unit declined versus the British pound to 5.4025/4061 from 5.3686/3710 yesterday and dipped against the euro at 4.5384/5415 from 4.5258/5279 at Tuesday's close. ― Bernama