KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar today following mixed signal coming from the United States (US) Federal Reserve officials amidst lower than expected housing starts statistics, said an analyst.

       At 9 am, the local note rose to 4.1750/1770 versus the greenback from 4.1795/1810 at yesterday’s close.

       Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the housing starts fell 0.7 per cent month-on-month to 1.52 million in October versus the consensus estimates of 0.6 per cent growth.

       "The latest statistics suggests that rising building material prices and labour shortages have taken a toll on the macroeconomy,” he told Bernama.

       Mohd Afzanizam said remarks from Fed official was also mixed on tapering process to be completed by mid-2022 while the Fed would asses the impact of monetary policy accommodation to inflation.

       "Besides, the US dollar index (DXY) slipped to 95.783 points. Given that, the ringgit could gain some ground today following the decline in the US dollar,” he said.

       As such, Mohd Afzanizam expects the local note to trade within a range of RM4.17 to RM4.18.

       Meanwhile, the local note was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except the euro where it strengthened to 4.7269/7292 from 4.7274/7291 at yesterday’s close.

       The ringgit slipped against the British pound to 5.6304/6331 from 5.6127/6147, decreased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.6555/6576 from 3.6394/6410, and fell against the Singapore dollar at 3.0785/0802 from 3.0772/0788 previously. - Bernama