KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar today, in line with the positive Nikkei Purchasing Managers Index (PMI).

At 9am, the ringgit was up to 4.1850/1900 against the greenback from 4.1890/1920 at Friday’s close.

A dealer said the Nikkei PMI released this morning put investors at ease for the time being, as it stated business optimism had hit a multi-year high, and was upbeat towards future output volumes.

"Businesses have planned new product launches and expectations of stronger demand, particularly from overseas markets, underpinned the improvement in confidence,” he said in quoting the report.

He added the report painted a positive outlook for Malaysia’s manufacturing sector, despite the global risk landscape remaining uncertain.

The ringgit, meanwhile, traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

It went down against the Singapore dollar to 3.0465/0513 from Friday’s 3.0399/0432 and depreciated against the Japanese yen at 3.8643/8700 from 3.8512/8544.

The local unit slid vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.2928/2995 from 5.2693/2748 and weakened against the euro to 4.6776/6848 from 4.6703/6741. — Bernama