KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — The ringgit opened slightly lower against the greenback as investors await for the release of key economic data by the Statistics Department today.

At 9am, the ringgit was quoted at 4.0690/0735 compared with yesterday’s close of 4.0680/0710.

An analyst said a strong domestic economic indicator is needed to push the local note up against the dollar which continues its climb thanks to a bullish US housing data.

"Coupled with trade optimism between the US and China after the signing of the "phase one” trade deal, the global trade sentiment has improved, pushing the US currency higher,” he said.

Meanwhile, the demand for the ringgit is expected to remain weak following the long Lunar New Year holiday.

Overall, the ringgit was also traded mostly higher against other major currencies.

The local note was up against the Singapore dollar to 3.0121/0165 from 3.0138/0171 yesterday but slid vis-a-vis to the Japanese yen to 3.7143/7194 from 3.7130/7171 at yesterday’s close.

Meanwhile, the local currency rose against the euro to 4.4967/5033 from 4.5086/5135 and climbed up against the British pound to 5.3369/3440 from 5.3413/3469 previously. — Bernama