KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — The ringgit opened marginally higher against the US dollar this morning, extending yesterday’s upward momentum as the risk appetite in the market improved, a dealer said.

At 9am, the local currency rose to 4.4960/4995 against the greenback from Thursday’s close of 4.5010/5040.

The dealer said Bank Negara Malaysia’s move to raise the overnight policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) hike yesterday managed to offset the effect from United States Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish stance last night.

Elsewhere, the European Central Bank raised interest rates by an unprecedented 75 bps to 0.75 per cent in a bid to tame inflation.

Consequently, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations has also gone up to 1.25 per cent — the highest level since 2011 — while the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility increased to 1.5 per cent and 0.75 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local unit depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.2062/2089 from Thursday’s close of 3.2015/2041, weakened versus the British pound to 5.1897/1938 from 5.1730/1764 and decreased against the euro to 4.5162/5197 from 4.4996/5026 yesterday.

However, the ringgit rose vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1268/1294 from 3.1285/1308 previously. — Bernama