KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today due to the lack of buying interest, as cautious sentiments surrounding the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) monetary policy decision continued to prevail.

At 9.15 am, the ringgit depreciated to 4.7225/7265 against the greenback from Monday’s close of 4.7165/7195.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said market players will be focusing on BoJ’s monetary policy decision today due to expectations that the Japanese central bank will end its Negative Interest Rate Policy and Yield Curve Control.

Apart from that, he said market participants will also be observing the United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting which will begin today and end tomorrow.

On that note, the ringgit is expected to remain soft in light of the cautious trading mode, he said to Bernama.

"However, positive data from China yesterday offers some hope that the second-largest global economy is gaining some traction following a series of economic and monetary stimulus,” said Mohd Afzanizam.

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

It decreased vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.1631/1660 from 3.1608/1630 on Monday, fell against the British pound to 6.0070/0121 from 6.0060/0098 yesterday but rose versus the euro to 5.1338/1382 from 5.1400/1433 previously.

At the same time, the ringgit traded mixed against other ASEAN currencies.

It weakened versus the Thai baht to 13.1104/1262 from 13.1050/1203 at Monday’s close and slipped against the Indonesian rupiah to 300.9/301.3 from 300.5/300.9 yesterday.

However, the local note was almost flat against the Singapore dollar at 3.5258/5291 from 3.5253/5278 on Monday and increased against the Philippines’ peso to 8.48/8.49 from 8.49/8.50 previously. - Bernama