KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — The ringgit traded slightly lower against the US dollar in early trade today, despite better crude oil prices.

At 9.05am, the local unit was traded at 4.1320/1350 against the greenback from 4.1300/1350 at Friday's close.

A dealer said low demand also dragged down the local note as emerging markets continued to face a slowdown in economic growth.

"Overall global market sentiment is still sluggish amid higher crude oil prices,” he added.

At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude was 0.97 per cent higher at US$72.64 per barrel. 

Meanwhile, the ringgit was mixed against a basket of major currencies.

It increased against the Japanese Yen to 3.6896/6933 from 3.6898/6949 and strengthened against the British pound to 5.3666/3710 from 5.3707/3792.

The ringgit depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.0481/0541 from 3.0473/0514, but slipped against the euro to 4.6452/6502 from 4.6446/6506. — Bernama