KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — The ringgit continued yesterday’s gains to open marginally firmer against the US dollar today amidst improved crude oil prices.

At 9.01am, the local note was quoted at 4.0710/0760 versus the greenback from 4.0750/0780 at Wednesday’s close.

At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude oil was traded at US$48.25 per barrel, a 1.75 per cent rise from the previous trading session.

Commenting on the ringgit’s performance, Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said there has been little action in the ringgit since the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (Opec+) meeting hit the deferment button on Sunday, as the local unit remained tied to the the movement of crude oil markets.

"But as we hear from Opec+ later today, I think long positioning for an eventual oil market bounce should be the way to play the ringgit,” he told Bernama.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Opec+, which includes Russia and other oil producing countries, had postponed talks on crude oil output policy for 2021 to Dec 3, as key players still disagreed on how much oil they should pump amidst weak demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the opening bell, the ringgit traded with slight changes compared with other major currencies.

It went down marginally against the Singapore dollar to 3.0399/0447 from 3.0395/0428 at Wednesday’s close, slightly easier versus the yen at 3.8953/9012 from 3.8921/8953, and weakened against the euro at 4.9271/9348 from 4.9116/9156 previously.

However, the the local note moved a little higher against the pound at 5.4372/4443 from 5.4377/4421 yesterday. — Bernama