KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — The ringgit extended yesterday’s gains to open higher against the US dollar this morning on increased demand for the local note and other Asian currencies. 

At 9am, the local unit was quoted at 3.9920/9970 against the greenback from 3.9925/9965 on Thursday. 

A dealer said the local note was trading higher following the latest US Federal Reserve’s meeting which suggested that there would unlikely be an interest rate hike in September. 

"The uncertainty on the timing of an interest rate increase caused the US dollar to fall,” the dealer said. 

Against a basket of currencies, the local note was traded mostly higher.

It firmed up against the Singapore dollar to 2.9769/9824 from 2.9777/9816 and vis-a-vis yen, increased to 3.9801/9862 from 3.9790/9841. 

The ringgit went up to 5.2475/2549 from 5.2537/2606 versus the British pound but fell against the euro to 4.5269/5342 from 4.5163/5216. — Bernama