KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar this morning, although the greenback had strengthened following lower-than-expected jobless claims in the United States (US), said an analyst.

At 8 am, the ringgit appreciated to 4.4695/4800 versus the greenback from yesterday's close of 4.4710/4750.

The initial jobless claims dropped to 233,000, lower than consensus estimates of 241,000 and last week’s level of 250,000.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid told Bernama that the solid data relieved fears of a US recession, leading to higher equity prices while bond yields rose.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index (DXY) was slightly higher at 103.22 points.

"Despite that, the four-week moving average of initial jobless claims and continuing jobless claims remained at elevated levels, suggesting that the underlying weaknesses in the US labour is still visible.

"On that note, the Federal Reserve should be on track to deliver a rate cut in the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in September," he told Bernama.

This would certainly provide support to the ringgit to maintain its prevailing level of RM4.47 to RM4.48, said Mohd Afzanizam.

He added that the current resistant level is located at RM4.5152, while the support level is at RM4.4467.

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

It gained vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8780/8895 from 4.8859/8903 and improved against the Japanese yen to 3.0261/0338 from 3.0590/0619 yesterday.

However, it declined versus the British pound to 5.6964/7098 from 5.6661/6712 at Thursday’s close.

The ringgit traded mixed against ASEAN currencies.

It improved versus the Singapore dollar to 3.3699/3781 from 3.3746/3779 yesterday and inched up against the Indonesian rupiah to 281.1/282.0 from 281.2/281.6.

But the local note went down vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.6611/6988 from 12.6382/6545 at Thursday's close and was flat against the Philippine peso at 7.79/7.82.

 - Bernama