KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — The ringgit extended its downtrend to open lower against the US dollar as most traders kept sideways while closely monitoring developments in the US-China trade dispute, dealers said.

At am, the ringgit was trading at 4.2020/2070 against the greenback from 4.2010/2050 yesterday.

A dealer said the losses, however, were limited by the improved oil prices on talks that the US and China signalled de-escalation of the trade spat they had intensified at the end of last week.

Brent crude was trading at 0.65 per cent better at US$58.50 (RM245.02) per barrel at the time of writing.

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“Regional currencies should benefit from the positive trade-sensitive environment today.

“There will be an air of caution though in Asia, as nervousness persists about US President Donald Trump's social media account changing sentiment negatively as quickly as it recovered,” said Oanda’s Asia Pacific senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley in a note.

The ringgit, however, traded a bit better against other major currencies.

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It slightly improved against the yen to 3.9690/9749 from 3.9715/9764 and versus the euro to 4.6646/6719 from 4.6698/6760 previously.

The local unit was marginally higher against the Singapore dollar at 3.0261/0308 from 3.0267/0300 and vis-a-vis the British pound at 5.1319/1384 from 5.1412/1478. — Bernama