KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against against the US dollar today on further profit taking after last week's rally, said a dealer.

At 9.20 am, the local unit was quoted at 4.1780/1850 against the dollar from yesterday's close of 4.1360/1450. The dealer said the the current sentiment was still positive for the ringgit as regional currencies remained on the uptrend and amid a weakened greenback that languished lower as expectations faded that the US Federal Reserve would hike interest rates as early as this month.

"The ringgit is still short-term bullish. As long as the 4.20 resistance level holds, tendency to test the psychological level of 4.0 this week is still there, technically," he said.

Meanwhile, the local note also traded lower against a basket of major currencies. It fell against the Singapore dollar to 2.9813/9884 from 2.9594/9675 yesterday and depreciated against the yen to 3.4849/4919 from 3.4415/4501.

The local unit eased against the British pound to 6.3957/4081 from yesterday's 6.3471/3626 and reduced against the Euro to 4.7424/7508 from 4.7064/7174 previously. -- Bernama