At 9 am, the ringgit weakened to 4.1440/1470 against the greenback from 4.1370/1400 at last Friday’s closing.

A dealer said the ringgit’s weakness was due to the contagion impact from a reported plan by the US to impose new tariffs on some US$200 billion of Chinese imports, exacerbating the trade fraction between the two economic powerhouses.

“Higher US interest rates also pose some significant concerns, especially if a more hawkish US Federal Reserve versus a more dovish Bank Negara Malaysia does come to fruition,” he added.

The ringgit also traded mostly lower against other major currencies.

It appreciated slightly against the Singapore dollar to 3.0160/0200 from 3.0208/0241 on Friday but weakened against the yen to 3.7063/7100 from 3.6997/7037.

It declined against the euro to 5.4473/4525 from 5.4282/4338 and was down against the British pound at 4.8394/8441 from 4.8390/8446.