KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — The ringgit opened barely changed against the US dollar due to the absence of fresh market catalysts.

At 9am, the local currency decreased marginally to 4.7390/7405 against the greenback from last Friday’s close of 4.7380/7395.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz expects the US dollar to continue rising against the ringgit on the expectation the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) will continue its tight monetary policy going forward.

"The US dollar starts the week in a bullish mode once again against the ringgit as the gap in interest rates makes it attractive for investors to buy US government bonds and therefore sell the ringgit,” he told Bernama.

There are still two meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in the US before the end of the year and the expectation is that 2022 will end with the US interest rate at between 4.25 per cent and 4.75 per cent. The current rate is at 3.25 per cent.

Meanwhile, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local note slipped against the British pound to 5.3631/3648 from 5.2677/2694 at last Friday’s close and eased versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3361/3377 from 3.3144/3157.

It depreciated against the Japanese yen at 3.1810/1824 from 3.1384/1396 and slid vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6883/6898 from 4.6139/6153 last Friday. — Bernama