At 6pm, the local unit slid to 4.1550/1580 against the US dollar from 4.1490/1530 on Wednesday.

Citing news report, a dealer said minutes of the Fed’s September 25-26 meeting revealed that every Fed policymaker backed raising interest rates, and generally agreed on the need to raise borrowing costs further.

“It was reported that the hawkish Fed minutes had lifted the US dollar to a one-week high early Thursday,” he said.

Meanwhile, the dealer said the falling crude oil prices due to the US crude inventories surge also weighed on the ringgit performance, as weak crude oil prices are negative for Malaysia’s oil and gas revenue.

At the close, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against other major currencies, except versus the British pound.

The local unit advanced against the Japanese yen to 3.6920/6953 from 3.6965/7011 on Wednesday, rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0163/0196 from 3.0177/0212 yesterday, while against the euro, it appreciated to 4.7891/7929 from 4.7987/8046 previously.

Vis-a-vis the British pound, the ringgit retreated to 5.4530/4586 from 5.4522/4591 on Wednesday.