KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar on Friday as the safe haven greenback advanced amidst ongoing concerns over the rising COVID-19 cases globally and better United States (US) initial jobless claims data, analysts said.

       At 9 am, the local note stood at 4.2365/2385 versus the greenback from yesterday's close of 4.2355/2400.

       An analyst told Bernama that the strengthening of the US dollar had put pressure on the oil prices, with the oil benchmark Brent crude currently trading at around US$66 per barrel.

       On the local front, the Health Ministry reported 22,948 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday -- the country’s highest daily figure to-date, taking the nation’s cumulative tally to 1,489,460 cases.

       Meanwhile, the local note opened higher against a basket of major currencies.

       The ringgit rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.1055/1079 from 3.1061/1099 at Thursday’s close and improved against the Japanese yen to 3.8566/8588 from 3.8617/8661 previously.

       It gained versus the British pound to 5.7786/7813 from 5.7984/8046 and strengthened vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9491/9514 compared with 4.9534/9587 yesterday. - Bernama